Dr. Christof Horn has more than 20 years of experience in Automotive development. While in the first decade of his career, the question was how to bring electronics into the vehicle, the question of today is how to merge the Automotive mindset with Software DNA. Much work to do for the next decade.
After his study of Physics and Mathematics he ramped up the Automotive practice of P3, which was re-branded in 2019 to "umlaut". Today, "umlaut" is more than 6000 consultants and engineers, around 2000 of them working on Automotive challenges in R&D within more than 50 locations worldwide which cover the key Automotive OEMs and 1st tiers.
In the last years, Christof Horn worked with many of the leading OEMs and 1st tiers on how to master the transformation towards the Software Defined Vehicle – on strategy, technology, process and organizational level.In 2021, Christof joined Accenture, combining his strengths on the vehicle with Accenture’s strengths on IT, cloud and data in the new Accenture Section - "Industry X". Christof Horn is heading the Automotive Europe practice of Industry X.
He is author of books on change and digital transformation, and his LinkedIn newsletter "Software driven" is putting a spotlight on current challenges of the Software Defined Vehicle.
Andre is an experienced software professional with a successful track record in software development and management. With over a decade of industry experience, he has held various key positions in both German and international organizations such as IAV GmbH and Volkswagen AG. Currently, Andre is serving as Head of Software Defined Vehicle & Open Source Software at IAV, where he leads the strategy for their software systems & connectivity division. He has also worked as a Lead Product Manager at Cariad SE, leading product management for cybersecurity products on the VW.os platform. His deep expertise in software architecture, stakeholder management, and agile methodologies make him a good partner for every conversation regarding software, automotive and open source.
In his free time, he enjoys riding his several motorcycles and serves a real good "aglio e olio" for his family and friends. He lives with his wife and three kids in Gifhorn, Germany.
From 2002 to 2021 - Mercedes Benz
Current occupation
From 2022 - Microsoft
Responsible at CARIAD for VW.os Macro and the core platform team building it. Representing CARIAD as a strategic member in the Eclipse SDV working group and driving the CARIAD open source strategy.
Worked for 18 years in various technical, management and strategic roles in automotive software. Developed HMI solutions, OTA products and other online services. With his first public cloud account dating back to October 2005 his expertise spans from embedded to cloud computing.
Passionate about software engineering and critical to hype technology in automotive.