Augustin Friedel of MHP – A Porsche Company

0:00 Introduction to Partnerships in Automotive

Today in The Garage, our guest is Augustine Friedel. Augustine is Associated Partner for Software Defined Vehicles at MHP – A Porsche Company. In today’s discussion, we focus extensively on partnerships. Augustine wrote along with some collaborators, an extensive study of partnerships and how they can benefit the industry. Companies large and small can be successful at partnerships and why it’s such an imperative for the automotive industry. Let’s go!

0:38 Guest Introduction: Augustine Friedel

Welcome to The Garage. I’m John Heinlein, Chief Marketing Officer with Sonatus. We’re recording live at CES 2026 at the gigantic Sonatus booth, and we’re thrilled to have with us today, Augustin Friedel from MHP – A Porsche Company. Augustine welcome to The Garage. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

Thanks for having me here today, John. So my background, I’m from Germany, originally from the south, from the Alps. Now I live with my family in Berlin or close to Berlin. And then basically my history is in I’m a mechanical engineer. I I spent a lot of time in the startup ecosystem building companies like Uber in Germany or, like Rocket Internet before I ventured into, automotive OEMs and then now in consulting. And, like, everything linked to mobility and transformation of the transportation space is basically my personal passion.

Yeah, you have a very diverse background. We don’t get a lot of mechanical engineers. We had about one or two, usually electrical engineers. That’s very exciting. And you got to tell us a fun fact about you.

Oh, my fun fact is, yeah, it’s was was very hard to to find one, but it’s one one I’m very proud of is that I managed to exercise every day in 2025.

Every day.

Despite all traveling to the US or to China or within Europe and despite having like three kids. So that’s probably you imagine how exhausting this or like how much time it also takes to take care of the kids.

That’s a fun fact about me. That’s an incredible achievement.

I’m a big actually, exercise buff…I always like to have a fun fact to match our guests. I’m a big exercise buff as well.

My team knows at five o’clock on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, get out of the way because I’m gonna go to the gym. But every day in 2025, that’s quite an achievement.

So hats off to you. Thanks. So you work at MHP, which is a Porsche company. Can you tell us about MHP and also your role there? Yeah.

So MHP, as you mentioned, we are a hundred percent owned by Porsche, but we were founded independently, and then Porsche took us over over the last couple of years.

We work with the automotive industry and and beyond on either, like, enterprise IT topics. And, like, one topic that connects also, like, the both of us is connected vehicles and basically how to move the industry forward of having more connected vehicles, having more connectivity between the vehicles and the cloud, do, like, all the data management as well. So that’s basically the the core link to then ADAS function, IVI, and then cloud services as well. Yeah.

So and we are owned by Porsche, but we work with the whole ecosystem. Yeah. So we work with other OEMs as well. We work a lot with suppliers, and there is basically make a difference in the in the whole ecosystem in Germany, in Europe.

But we also have, like, a team here in the US in Atlanta. Yeah.

And in Detroit as well. So we are the automotive customers here as well. And, of course, then also China because China is, like, one of the major source of innovation and pressure, then, also for, like, the legacy OEMs at the moment, and we are there as well.

3:29 Augustin Friedel on LinkedIn

That’s great. That’s great. And you’re kind of a famous guy on LinkedIn. You publish these incredible, I don’t wanna say like summaries of industry facts and trends and customer announcements and so on. Where did you start this idea of doing this…it’s a kind of a personal project of yours, I think, right?

Yeah. So it’s my personal passion. So that’s what I do basically early mornings and then also on the weekends.

And, yeah, so it started roughly ten years ago, I would say. So I perfectionized the sourcing of all the relevant information so that it’s very efficient and to put everything together.

And, yeah, it’s great to to see and to hear that the style of compiling information, maybe also looking beyond, like, the the marketing speech, etcetera, is, like, very valuable for for the industry. And so this is basically always public information, so it’s not out of our projects that we do at MHP. It’s more like all available information, but in a very condensed and very, let’s say, typical way so that it’s easy to consume for probably you or your colleagues, but a lot of other players in the automotive space.

Well, it’s incredible information. And I know our colleagues and I are voracious readers, we’re always studying the things you put out. We always learn things because we we follow the industry closely, but you always point out things that…add value. So we’re thrilled to have it, and thank you for your service.

And we’re jealous of how you’re able to put together such incredible information with such high quality. So hats off to you. Thanks.

4:55 The Importance of Partnerships

So partnerships, one of the things we’ll probably talk about in this podcast is partnerships.

You just were the lead author of a study at MHP called “The Power of Partnerships”. It’s an incredible, quite a long study that looked at partnerships in many ways.

Yeah.

Can you tell us about what were your goals there and what were some of the maybe the top line conclusions? Then we’ll go into some details.

Yeah. So the goals of why we wrote the study with my two colleagues, Jan and Alex, was that, it’s okay, partnerships is really becoming the make or break for the automotive industry in this transformation. Yeah.

So all the different topics we are facing linked to AI, linked to data, linked to ADAS, to software platforms, architectures, No OEM and no supplier can basically do it on their own. They need partners. And you maybe have been here around at CES as well. It’s also like a the core topic of the show.

Yeah? So, basically, every player here in automotive is pushing the partnerships linked to SoCs, maybe linked to then also data platforms like Sonatus, and then also, like, some other players, software platforms, etcetera. So basically, based on our belief, and we see it here and we see it also by the traction that we get about the study, is that partnership is really the differentiator in this transformation towards software defined vehicles and AI defined vehicles.

We totally agree. And Sonatus, we care a lot about partnerships. Many people know I was at Arm for 14 years. Partnerships and Arm is in the DNA.

And I’ve tried to bring that and Sonatus has that as well. I was on a panel yesterday here at CES talking about that and we were discussing differentiation and success and how do you have standardization versus differentiation. And one of the feelings is partnership is one way to go because you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You don’t have to do everything.

6:38 Balancing Standardization and Differentiation

But with sensible, smart partnerships, you can get efficiencies while still maintaining differentiation. I think that’s almost the holy grail of the industry is looking for that sort of balance of the two.

Yeah. It’s like speed and then also like value add for both parties then. I think that’s also important to have this always in mind. Yeah.

So we have the, like, three phases of partnership development. So one is enlightenment and execution and then evaluation. Yeah. So I think then that’s it’s key for the first phase, for the enlightenment phase that both parties or if the if it’s a partnership with more than two, that there’s, like, really a win win or, like, a win situation for all partners involved.

And then the most critical part, of course, is the execution part where we, I would say, need a bit more progress in the industry, yeah, to focus more on execution and less on basically announcing new partnerships, but we are getting there, especially now in 2026. And then also super important is always to have, like, a clear set of agreed KPIs to measure the partnerships.

Right.

And then also have, like, the clear, let’s say, methods and tools in place to to steer the partnership if you see you’re not hitting your targets, if you’re not hitting your KPIs. Yeah. So that you’re not flying blind so that you have, like, full transparency, and then also that you’re able to act if you see that something is not, like, going in the direction as it was intended.

7:58 Types of Partnerships in Automotive

That’s great. I mean, the the feedback loop of evaluating and metrics of success is important. So everyone knows what to… You know, in your study, you talk about that there are different types of partnerships. There’s more, you know, kind of classic IT partnerships, infrastructure, and then there’s more product partners. Can you describe how are some of the similarities and differences in those two?

Yeah. So I think the similarities is there should be a value add for all involved partners and the outcome either for the users, if you talk about enterprise IT, or then the customers, if you talk about product a IT product partnerships should be positive. Yeah? So I think these are the the similarities.

Our thinking is that we so being the automotive industry, you probably also know that we love to talk about products, about product partnerships and how great, like, everything is. We ship to the customers, but we need to recognize we can only deliver there and be super good if we manage everything linked to enterprise, engineering, IT partnerships as well. Yeah. So what we need as an industry, need to look beyond the products, the solutions we ship to the customers and really see, okay, how can we enable our IT enterprise IT, engineering IT with partnerships to deliver everything of that.

9:12 SDV to AI-Defined Vehicle

Yeah. So I think and that’s one of the the key topics we also expect in 2026, yeah, so that we move beyond products and say, okay. Look. It’s not about SDV as a product.

It’s SDV and AI-defined vehicle as like, okay, we also need to include the development environment. And of course, then also like the enterprise IT and like combining then enterprise IT partnerships, product partnerships, we will then head there where we want to go.

That’s right. So two things to say on that. The first thing is you’re right that you can’t…If you deliver a feature, especially now as vehicles are being more connected, more software, more data connectivity, if you deliver the feature sort of in isolation, it’s not going be successful unless it has the infrastructure and the maintainability, whether it’s SaaS or however it goes, the operation.

The second thing you mentioned is AI and SDV.

I think we believe it’s so important. That’s a key focus for us here at the show for Sonatus that SDV is great, and we’re believers, you’re a believer in SDV. But you also need to see how are we using SDV.

It’s not just generically good. How do we come up with specifics? And we find and we’re believing in our customers, it’s resonating with our customers that AI is one of the most attractive benefits to use infrastructure of SDV to deliver value.

Yeah. I fully agree there. And with the race to AI use cases, this having this, like, enterprise or engineering IT partnerships is even becoming more relevant because then you are not…In the past, we were talking about, okay, the ADAS domain, the IVI domain, probably in isolation. But now with AI and then, like, with AI agents, yeah, you need to think about, like, cross functional in the vehicle, like, across, like, body in motion, ADAS, IVI.

Yeah. So having there the infrastructure ready is super critical. And then also if you think about vertical, yeah, so you need to have then also like a kind of like balancing of cloud and edge solutions and so on. Yeah.

So, I mean, this is then also something where we need to think about beyond just the SDV.

I totally agree. And we’re kind of on an AI tangent, but I like it. It’s a really good topic because the AI for us, what’s interesting we found is that before, I think, people felt AI was very narrow to, well, IVI or something. And now we’re seeing that AI can really add benefit across the vehicle. And as you say, within different subsystems, one of the things we’re showing is how we’re making it easy for AI model vendors to access data they need for their models across the vehicle without custom integration. So I think it’s really smart what you’re saying about how AI is broadening and diversifying.

Yeah. And you also mentioned a super relevant point. So none of us knows, okay, where AI in automotive is in six months or one year from now. So, I mean, there as an OEM, you always need to be able to then maybe swap a model from an old one to the new one because it’s more performant.

Maybe it’s cheaper. Yeah? So and then you can only do that in a very efficient way if you have the, like, the base set. Yeah?

So if you have the clear data pipelines, if you have then clear APIs, and then basically that you have the flexibility in your system to adopt to what’s changing around you. So and I think that’s super crucial. And you only get this through partnerships. Yeah.

12:24 Measuring Success in Partnerships

Fantastic. And that’s a great conversation. We could probably have an entire episode about that. Maybe you come back next time and we’ll talk about that. But how do we measure success? Numerically, what are some of the ways that we can assess the benefits of partnerships and are you able to quantify that?

Yeah. So what we are looking at, like two high level KPIs that the automotive industry is looking at, it’s like, could we speed up processes? Yeah. So this is how can we maybe faster on time to market and how can we reduce costs?

Yeah. So these are the two main drivers that the automotive industry has in mind at the moment and, like, to to face all the challenges that we have. Yeah. So that’s made more on the enterprise side.

And then if you talk more about the customer, yeah, so if you’re then in the product partnership space, it’s a lot about customer satisfaction, usage rates. Yeah. So basically there, again, you need to define the different KPIs and then you need to really have, like, I would say, like, a full loop or, like, closed loop to, like, ship them maybe new features, functions, new products to the customers, but then be also able to measure the customer satisfaction score or NPS and then see, okay. Did you hit the nail or do you need to basically do another round?

Yeah. So there, if you you stay more in the in the enterprise, engineering team, it’s more cost down, time to market, speed up. If you are more towards customer, it’s like usage KPIs, then it’s satisfaction KPIs. So these are some KPIs that we use to measure then the success.

13:53 Partnership Proficiency and Skills

You mentioned in your study about how partnership proficiency, it’s kind of an interesting term. It’s like being good at being a partner. That’s a skill that I think different companies, I find in my experience, different companies are differently good at being a good partner. What are some of the metrics that make for good partner proficiency?

Yeah. So I think there it’s a right, or you’re totally right. I also see it the same way. There are some companies that have partnership DNA in the blood and some OEMs, so the customers we work with, they need to really learn how to partner.

Yeah, So to avoid that they’re then like OEM-supplier relationships, that’s really partnerships. And and there, it’s basically KPIs or basically things we we we use to measure then the success is, okay, how good could you leverage basically the different cultures? Yeah?

So how could you align on different culture? How is the communication? So and then also, okay, how do you streamline and automate the, basically, the different systems or the different solutions from, like, the OEMs and the partners you work with. Yeah.

So basically to have them there like a smooth execution and, like, have, like, really hit there, like, the the goals that you that you want to set or what what that you want to achieve on like the cost reduction, on the speed, on the value you want add.

Do you think companies can learn to be better partners? Because my experience is it’s kind of a value for the company or not. Yeah. But then as we said and, as many people are discussing, how there’s a need for more partnerships, especially in a world where there’s more software, I think companies who aren’t good at that somehow need to learn. Are there ways they can improve?

Yeah. So definitely they need to learn that. Yeah. Because like partnerships or like and to manage partnerships will become like a super relevant skill. It’s already today the case, but even more relevant in the future.

And you’re right. I mean, there needs to be active enablement because, like, telling your employees, okay, tomorrow, you need to be, like, the best one in partnership. That’s not working. Yeah.

So there, the corporates, the companies really need to either basically build, let’s say, a new organization, which which just then has, like, the partnership approach as part of the DNA of the culture or actively basically then educate and enable the team or the different teams to to be good at partnerships. And that’s across all the departments. Yeah. So it’s in in the business units then, but also in purchasing.

It’s also in financing. And this is it’s not like a, let’s say, a challenge for a single unit, business unit, or team. It’s across the company then.

Yeah. So many great points you made there. I think there’s always a risk in many companies, and I’ve seen this in my career in the past, that companies may be concerned that if they haven’t invented the things there, “not invented here” is the famous term, right? Not invented here, then it’s not good.

And I think the first is to help people understand that that’s just a fundamental fallacy. Yeah. And then you also talked about KPIs and you talked about it in many ways is I think the KPIs for partnerships, I think, and this has been my experiences, you need to establish that we’re going to judge you on whether you are being a good partner. And the metrics of success will be the partnerships, not just the overall results.

Yeah, yeah.

Fully agree on that.

17:18 Risks and Downsides of Partnerships

Well, it’s clear that I’m an advocate and you’re an advocate for partnerships, but it’s also the case that there’s risks in anything and there’s risks when you go outside your company. So if we think about the other side, what are some of the possible downsides or some of the possible concerns from partnerships?

Yeah. Of course, partnerships could have a negative impact as well, or there could be risks linked to that as well. So one is partnerships could also fail. Yeah?

So, also, we need to consider this scenario in our, like, partnership strategy. What do we do if either we as, like, an OEM are not able to fulfill this partnership or if our partner is dropping out because of whatsoever reasons, being out of business or they focus on a different, like, industry or whatsoever. Yeah. So I think that’s something where we need to plan for.

What do we do if this kind of partnership is is is failing?

Then we did also, like, the study, like, an interview with around six hundred decision makers Six hundred decision makers.

That’s around the globe. So in China, in the US, and then also in Europe. And then also some risk of fears they are seeing is, okay, they lose or that they they they have fears or they see the risk of losing IP, control on IP, and basically then owning the IP. Yeah.

So I think that’s something that needs to be considered. They also see the risks of that they can’t match the different cultural levels. Yeah. So especially if you talk about, let’s say, traditional OEMs partnering with new kids on the block linked to IVI, linked to data, linked to AI, ADAS, etcetera, you name it.

Yeah? So they often add a different culture so that they’ve the risk or the risk that is seen by the decision makers is that they can’t match it. And then the third one is then also, okay, that they can’t find a common ground on enterprise IT. Yeah.

So basically to match maybe different systems and and so on. Yeah. So and there but these are often known risks and you can plan for the risks. And I think that’s the key factor so that you see the risks and then you have a plan B for everything that could happen.

I think that’s exactly right. And any smart business leader always needs to have contingency plans. I think my worry is, and I’ve seen this in the past, is that people use those excuses as to sort of set the partnership up to fail. I think having a contingency plan and setting the partnership up for fail are two different things. You want to have a backup plan, but then you want to use your full effort to try to be successful. And then of course, if you need the backup plans there.

19:38 Conclusion and Future Outlook

So the study is incredible. We’ll put a link in the show notes to the study. People can find it easily on your webpage. And also we’ll put a link to your incredible LinkedIn and other feeds that people can see the stuff you publish on a practically daily basis.

I don’t know when you sleep. Between having three kids and working out every day and doing your thing, I don’t know when you sleep, but we benefit from all the great work you do. And it’s been such a joy to have you here. Thanks for coming by and seeing us.

Thanks for having me here, John.

Really a pleasure to talk to you about the exciting topic of partnerships and yeah, looking forward to what we do next.

Thanks so much.

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