CES 2026: The Reality Check - When SDV Became Real, AI Moved to the Edge, and the Industry Converged - S2E01

🎙️ THE REALITY CHECK: When Hype Becomes Hardware

For three years at CES, we've heard the same promises: SDVs are coming, AI will transform mobility, the industry is converging. But at CES 2026, something changed. The buzzwords became bill of materials. The roadmaps became production deployments. The future tense became present reality.

In this special Season 2 premiere, host Stéphane Lagresle brings you insights from seven conversations with executives at QNX, Qualcomm, Sonatus, Cerence AI, Amazon, Valeo, and VicOne, revealing three seismic shifts reshaping automotive innovation.

🚗 FROM BUZZWORD TO BILL OF MATERIALS

Discover why SDV is no longer hype: $22-98 cost savings per vehicle, $6-12M development efficiencies, and 6-month deployment cycles. QNX shows the hard numbers. Sonatus demonstrates production systems. Valeo confirms we're "only at the beginning."

🤖 THE INTELLIGENCE REVOLUTION

The industry has been talking for years about "software-defined" anymore. Now, it's "AI-defined" vehicles. Learn why edge-first orchestration is replacing cloud-first architecture, how operational costs and sustainability are driving AI to the edge, and why agentic AI creates experiences that evolve with customers across car, office, and home.

🔄 THE GREAT CONVERGENCE

Technical boundaries are dissolving. Industry walls are falling. Your car is becoming a node in computing and energy grids. From Valeo's computing power lending concept to Amazon's ecosystem approach, see how vehicles are transforming into network infrastructure.

🎤 FEATURING INSIGHTS FROM:

• John Pelliccio (QNX) - Software-defined audio with measurable ROI
• Alexandre Corjon (Sonatus) - Intelligence-driven SDV deployment
• Rajat Sagar (Qualcomm) - AI-defined vehicles and Snapdragon Digital Chassis
• Raja Bose (Cerence AI) - Edge-first orchestration and seamless life experiences
• Stefano Marzani (Amazon/AWS) - Cloud-native development democratization
• François Marion (Valeo) - Cars as computing resources
• William Dalton (VicOne) - AI security in an expanding attack surface

💡 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

✓ Why edge computing is becoming "first-class citizen" instead of fallback option

✓ How cloud inference costs are driving architectural changes

✓ What "agentic AI" actually means for user experiences

✓ Why vehicles will lend computing power to the cloud when idle

✓ How OEMs can deploy AI without "gold-plated hardware"

✓ Where the real security threats lie in intelligence-defined vehicles

This isn't another CES recap. This is a reality check on where automotive innovation actually stands.

And where it's heading next.

Keywords:

CES 2026, software-defined vehicles, SDV, automotive AI, edge computing, agentic AI, Qualcomm Snapdragon, autonomous driving, automotive cybersecurity, vehicle-to-grid, cloud computing, automotive innovation, mobility technology, QNX, Sonatus, Cerence, Amazon automotive, Valeo, VicOne, edge-first orchestration, AI-defined vehicles, automotive storytelling, tech podcast, automotive podcast

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.