“Our technological expertise ranges from the road to the cloud. That’s what makes Continental so unique,” said Continental’s CEO Nikolai Setzer today at the technology company’s virtual annual shareholders’ meeting, underscoring the company’s strong technological and competitive position.
In this context, he referred to the exclusive partnership with Aurora announced today: “With the US company Aurora, we are now taking another decisive step toward autonomous mobility. Together, we will bring autonomous trucking systems to the American market – as early as 2027,” said Setzer to shareholders. Continental and Aurora will design, develop, validate, deliver and service a scalable autonomous system for the trucking industry. The system will be available for carriers and commercial fleet operators across the USA and will help reduce costs to facilitate broader adoption.
“This will be the first autonomous trucking system to go into production. Self-driving trucks will be able to transport freight in a third of the time. With less fuel and therefore lower CO2 emissions,” said Setzer, describing the importance of this partnership for the development of autonomous trucking. And all of this means a brand-new business model for Continental: “We will no longer just be paid for the components we provide, like in the traditional supplier business, but also for each kilometer driven by the autonomous trucks,” said Setzer.
Balanced portfolio for complementary markets and cycles
Despite a market environment that remains difficult due to rising costs for materials, wages and salaries, and energy and logistics as well as the ongoing transformation of the automotive industry, Setzer is looking ahead with confidence. “We have a balanced portfolio for complementary markets and cycles. No other supplier can offer what we do,” he said.
Setzer expects that the global production of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles will continue to recover, particularly in Continental’s key core markets of Europe and North America. “This does not yet equate to a tailwind, but it at least means less headwind.” According to the CEO, Continental must continue to take an active role in shaping future changes with its products and solutions, even during challenging times.
Continental even more resilient
The CEO underlined how Continental had become significantly more resilient to the effects of a stressed global economy in the past year, for example in the area of procurement and logistics. Despite China having to close its major ports due to the COVID pandemic, causing freight charges to skyrocket, as well as continued supply shortages for semiconductors, Continental was able to make improvements to its procurement and logistics chain and broaden its supplier base in 2022.
