Abendroth is currently employed at Byton, Hong Kong/Santa Clara (USA), and has been responsible for the Autonomous Driving and Drive Technology divisions since July 2016. Previously, he was responsible for the development of electric drives at BMW in Munich, including those for the i3 and i8 models.

In his new role at Continental, he will act as the central point of contact for customers and business partners in strategic technology and innovation issues relating to business in the Automotive sector and will report to the Chairman of the Executive Board, Dr. Elmar Degenhart.

Continental appoints Dr. Dirk Abendroth as Chief Technology Officer of the future Continental Automotive sector as of January 1, 2019. © Continental

"In Dirk Abendroth, we have gained a proven and globally recognized leader for the design of pioneering technologies for the automated and connected mobility of the future. We are very much looking forward to working with him and jointly developing our overarching strategies in these key growth areas for the automotive industry," said Degenhart on the occasion of the announcement. He referred to Continental's rapid, profitable growth in these areas in particular.

Automation, zero accidents and networking

As part of its automotive strategy, the technology company is focusing on technology trend scouting with a focus on future topics such as automation, zero accidents, connectivity and new mobility services.

The possibilities of artificial intelligence and new wireless technologies across all business units will be examined, as well as technologies for autonomous vehicles such as robotaxis. Other tasks include the further development of processes, methods and instruments in research and development with a focus on embedded software as well as managing the upcoming consolidation and ongoing optimization of Continental Automotive's global research and development network.

"The future of mobility needs more and more software. In some pioneering projects, up to 80 percent of the work is already spent on developing software. Today, we generate over 60 percent of our turnover in the automotive sector with digital products. And the trend is rising sharply," said Degenhart, adding: "With our bundled Automotive research and development unit, we will strengthen our cross-organizational cooperation. It will also enable us to shorten our innovation cycles and further increase the flexibility of our innovation processes, particularly with regard to software development. The benefits for our customers and end users: state-of-the-art, affordable solutions that help to prevent accidents, avoid traffic jams and increase driving comfort."