Luxury automaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced the appointment of Thomas Müller as its executive director of product engineering. The Tata Motors-owned British carmaker confirmed on April 4 that Müller would replace Nick Rogers who left the company at the end of 2021 after serving in the position for seven years.
So, who is Thomas Müller and what does his arrival mean for Jaguar Land Rover?
Müller joins JLR after spending two decades at the Volkswagen Group. For 18 of those years, he served as vice president development chassis, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving at Audi AG before taking over as the Executive Vice President of ADAS and Autonomous Driving at VW’s automotive software subsidiary Cariad.
JLR said Müller would be integral to JLR’s “Reimagine” strategy designed to help the brand achieve net-zero carbon emissions across its products, operations and supply chain by 2039.
JLR recently announced a partnership with California-based computer hardware and AI specialist NVIDIA to enhance its autonomous driving capabilities as it reinvents itself from a luxury performance carmaker to a purveyor of all-electric automotive luxury.
Also read: Jaguar Land Rover, Nvidia tie-up signals software wars are truly on
Driving change
Müller joined Audi AG as the head of development for braking, steering and driver assistance systems in 2010. Since then the brand has gone on to launch the Audi A8, which was at one point ready to serve as the first production car to feature Level 3 autonomous software before the absence of a regulatory framework around autonomous driving (in multiple markets) prevented the brand from going ahead.
While the cancellation of Level 3 tech did dull the A8’s lustre, it nevertheless helped establish both Audi and Müller as one of the top players in the ADAS space.
JLR chief executive officer Thierry Bolloré said, “Not only is Thomas a highly-skilled, experienced engineering leader, he also brings a humble and approachable quality and we’re delighted to welcome him to Jaguar Land Rover. His vision and knowledge from more than two decades in the industry will make him great support and mentor to our teams as we accelerate our journey of simplification and electrification.”
With more and more carmakers looking to establish themselves in the autonomous/assisted driving space, the competition is likely to heat up in the coming years.
Tesla Inc, which collects data from the Autopilot system in its cars, is, at present, six years ahead of legacy carmakers in terms of software efficacy.
While some like Toyota and Volkswagen have opted to develop their operating systems, many others have partnered with Big Tech to get a toehold in the AI space.
The position of executive director of product engineering was vacant for four months following the departure of Rogers. Müller’s LinkedIn page shows he attended, in the interim, an education course called BatteryMBA, where top industry experts train leaders in the nuances of battery technology.
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