The Garage by Sonatus

In this episode of The Garage podcast recorded live at CES 2026, host John Heinlein interviews Derek De Bono, Vice President of Software Defined Vehicles at Valeo, a major tier one automotive supplier. The conversation explores how software defined vehicles (SDVs) are transforming the automotive industry, moving beyond simply adding more software to creating a holistic system approach that decouples hardware and software. Derek discusses Valeo's 90-year evolution from mechanical systems to leading innovation in electrification, lighting, and autonomous driving systems. The discussion covers how SDVs enable vehicles to evolve with their owners through over-the-air updates, feature-on-demand capabilities, and continuous improvements through AI and machine learning. They explore the changing relationship between automakers and suppliers, moving from hierarchical structures to partnership ecosystems. Derek shares insights on the future of autonomous driving, predicting level 3 autonomy before 2030, and discusses how software updates are becoming more frequent, with some manufacturers pushing hundreds of updates per year. The conversation touches on business model implications, including whether new features should be revenue-generating or loyalty-building, and how SDVs can improve vehicle resale value and reduce costs through simplified wiring harnesses and fewer controllers.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction to Software Defined Vehicles
0:44 Introduction to Derek De Bono
3:48 Overview of Valeo
5:01 Transition to Software Defined Vehicles
7:44 The Role of AI in SDVs
9:03 Collaboration in the Automotive Ecosystem
13:18 Opportunities for OEMs and Consumers
16:11 Revenue Models for Software Updates
20:42 Future Trends in Autonomous Driving
24:52 Conclusion and Closing Remarks

Creators and Guests

Host
John Heinlein, Ph.D.
An experienced technology and marketing leader, John brings his background from startups and established companies to Sonatus. He worked for 14 years at Arm, most recently leading Automotive Partnerships for North America where he engaged OEMs, Tier-1s, and others to deploy Arm-based solutions into automotive applications, including autonomous vehicles. His team was integral to launching the SOAFEE industry initiative for software-defined vehicles of which Sonatus is a member. Earlier he served as VP and Chief of Staff to the CEO and led a group responsible for competitive strategy. For three years, he was VP of Corporate Marketing where he led centralized outbound marketing, spanning marketing campaigns, press, events, web, digital marketing, ecosystem programs, and working closely with investor relations. Prior to Arm, John had an 11-year tenure at microprocessor startup Transmeta where he held several senior roles spanning business development, marketing, and customer success, among others. John earned his B.S. in Computer Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and an M.S. and Ph.D., both in Electrical Engineering, from Stanford University.

What is The Garage by Sonatus?

The Garage Podcast from Sonatus brings you conversations with thought leaders from around the vehicle technology space discussing far-reaching topics about software innovation in vehicles.

These episodes will include industry experts, whether from Sonatus, or from our amazing partners across the industry, all of whom will share their Ideas and their outlook for the most important topics in vehicle technology. Episodes span from more technical topics, to business evolution, and market trends. Join us and learn about the future of vehicle in The Garage.

Today in The Garage in an
episode recorded live at CES

2026, our guest
is Derek De Bono,

who's Vice President of
Software Defined Vehicles at

Valeo.

Valeo is a famous tier one
supplier in the industry,

and they've been doing
incredible innovation in

software and evolving their
systems and vehicles to,

Software Defined Vehicles.

In today's discussion,

we have a wide ranging
exploration of how Software

Defined Vehicles are evolving, what
are the opportunities and challenges,

and we look forward to
the future in how vehicles are

evolving into the future.

It's a very exciting
conversation.

Let's go!

Welcome to The Garage.

I'm John Heinlein, Chief
Marketing Officer with Sonatus.

We're here at CES 2026 at the
Sonatus booth in our podcast studio.

And we're so excited today
to welcome Derek from Valeo.

Derek, welcome to The Garage.

Thank you. And it's
great to be here.

Please start by telling
us about yourself.

I guess, when I
think about myself,

I'm a engineer by training.

So I started off...I don't
know how far back you

want me to go?.

What kind of engineer what
kind of engineer were you?

I'm a mechanical engineer. Okay.

I grew up, and I lived my,
my whole life in Montreal,

until, my, I guess,
early thirties.

Then I branched out,
joined Ford Motor Company,

spent several years working
at Ford in Canada and the US,

and then made the big move
to Paris, moved to France,

and joined Valeo.

First in a product
marketing role,

I've been and I still am in charge
of product marketing for the group.

But

as we started seeing this new
thing emerge we have called

Software-Defined,

we started getting more and
more interested in what's

happening with software and how
Valeo should transform and what

should transform within Valeo to take
advantage of this new opportunity.

I became in charge
in charge of that,

what we call the software defined
vehicle transformation at Valeo.

That's great. I wanna get
into that in more detail.

You gotta start
with us a fun fact.

We like to get to
know our guests.

Tell us a fun fact about you.

Yeah.

I guess a fun fact is always
it makes you think a bit what's

different in your life
and what's unusual.

I am Canadian.

I grew up in Montreal,
moved to Paris,

created a family in Paris.

But we have brought a bit of
Canada and a bit of Montreal to

Paris.

We have three kids, and all of
them are active hockey players.

So maybe when you
think about Paris,

you think about croissants,

so you think about
the Eiffel Tower.

But now you think you
think more and more about hockey,

and it's great with
Montreal this year.

There's even a French hockey player
playing for the Montreal Canadiens,

so it's kind of fun seeing
that little link in there.

That's exciting. And do your
kids play different positions?

They're all defense.

They're all they they're
all the first, the eldest,

was a defender, and they
all folded in his tracks,

and they all became defenders.

They referee as well.

So, it's been fun
to see, you know,

learning how to play
and then learning,

how difficult it is sometimes
to to judge what is a what

you're able to do in the sport.

I've pushed them
as well to become,

to become refs and
and to learn how

you have different elements of the
game and you have to keep your control.

That's great. I always
say some fun fact back.

My daughter this last past
summer took up pole vaulting.

Oh, wow. Which is really
interesting, very unique sport.

And we'll see if
she sticks with it.

It's

so interesting and she
was able to do quite well.

But so there you go.

It's fun sports, I'm glad
you're able to bring that.

Tell us about, Valeo.

Tell us about the company for
those people who may not know.

Valeo is a famous tier one
supplier in the industry,

but you do a lot more.

I know you're looking
to expand the role.

So tell us first about the
company and a little bit of

background of the company.

Valeo has been around
for many years.

We had, our 90th anniversary
a few years ago. Great.

So, we started off as
a really...mechanical

systems, within the vehicle.

Today, I think what's driving
Valeo forward is really, working on

the major trends in automotive.

So everything to do with
electrification from 48v mild

hybrid systems all the way up to

800V full-electric
vehicle systems.

Everything around lighting
systems to see and be seen and

make sure that we're doing
everything we can in regards to

safe systems in the vehicle.

And then I say for last,

the part about

ADAS and AD and automation,

the transformation that
we're seeing there when

the responsibility in the
vehicle is going from the

driver to the vehicle itself to make
sure that we're not only protecting the

protecting the person in the
vehicle by avoiding accidents,

but we're anticipating other
road users and and making sure

that, the experience,

and mobility is as safe as
it can be in the future.

That's fantastic.

So let's let's shift
over to SDV then.

You're responsible for
SDV strategy and and and

implementation at at Valeo.

Tell us about how
you're considering,

that train that change and and
what are some of your strategic

focuses in that area?

When we first started detecting,

the separation of
hardware and software,

we we took a look at the
role of Valeo within..we've

been supplying embedded
software systems into

components for years, whether
it's a parking system,

a lighting system,

or even different
powertrain-related systems.

What we're seeing
is as we split,

is software defined really
a transformation of software

or is it about hardware? It's

neither, it's both,
it's all

software defined.

It's really about the vehicle
and how we approach the vehicle

in the future with the emphasis
always being on the user.

The user experience,

we should be taking
that to a new level.

And how we take that to a
new level is by always being able

to adapt the vehicle
to the driver,

to the consumer in the vehicle.

And we can do that
through software.

So I think that is we
can't lose focus on,

you know, why are we doing this,

and we're doing this to make
sure that we have the best

possible experience
within the car.

Software defined is allowing
us to add the functionality,

but we can't do anything with
software if we don't have the

hardware to go with it.

So it gives a value of enormous

opportunities, of course,
on the hardware side,

but also on the software side,

and really the system
understanding on how you put

that together from our
years as embedded software

system suppliers.

We differentiate ourselves by

understanding how the
vehicle goes together and,

what it means to deliver a
system to the end consumer.

I think the shift to
SDV...First thing,

I like everything you've said
that it's it's not just cram

more software in.

It's, I think, it's a more holistic way of
thinking about it from a system thinking,

thinking about decoupling
hardware and software in

different ways than would
have been done before.

Because historically, the
hardware and the software...

software is always there,

but the hardware the
software was tightly coupled.

Oftentimes, it
was never changed.

And so the architecture
choices you made,

things you cared about were
different than in a world where

you know that maybe software
is going to coexist with other

software, software is
going to change over time,

capabilities will
change over time.

I think it causes
different thinking.

Exactly. Exactly. I think
the big change there is AI.

When we think about the
software changing over time,

the more and more AI systems,

whether it's end-to-end or
however you want to call it,

the vision language action
models that we hear a lot about

at CES this year.

These are learning models.

So as you get more data,
you see more edge cases.

You don't want to say,

"Oops, the vehicle is
already in production,

we're not gonna touch it."

No.

You want your your driver,

your consumer to get
continually updated versions of

the software to make sure
that they're living the best

experience in the car, that
you're capable of giving them.

And we're able to do this
because of software defined,

because the software
is now centralized,

into either a domain controller
or a central compute unit.

It's connected to
the outside world.

The the vehicle is
always connected.

It's a connected
device, and the,

the car manufacturer is able
to, over the air update,

that algorithm to make sure
that they're getting the best

experience possible.

Yeah.

Just before we
started recording,

we were out in the
in the demo floor,

and we were talking
about just that,

an example where by monitoring
the way the vehicle operates,

by monitoring
environmental situations,

you can make improvements,
you can improve safety,

improve capabilities.

We were just talking about
that before we started,

so it's very, very topical.

How do you think SDVs,

the shift to SDVs is changing
the way automakers and

suppliers, writ large, you
know, can have to interact?

Yeah.

I think when we think about,
how we're acting today,

we're interacting
much more as partners.

Over years, there was
also a hierarchy in

automotive, a pyramid
of sorts between the car

manufacturer and the
different levels of suppliers.

We're seeing less
of that to deliver

the real state of the
art vehicle systems,

the SDVs of today.

Everyone has to work together,

and there's no one's
more important than the other.

Everyone's delivering key
elements of that vehicle.

So it's created much
more of a ecosystem,

a partnership environment,
and it's refreshing.

It's nice. It's nice to
see that it it works.

And when it works and when
you see it really working

fluidly in between
all the elements,

it's incredible what our
industry can deliver.

I mean, historically,

in older systems where the
software is more deeply

embedded and and deeply,

tightly coupled and
deeply embedded,

OEMs cared a lot less,

about what the specific
software did as long as it

achieved the mission,
I guess, I would say.

Do you see that changing where

they're more interested
in, for example,

understanding the
architectures that are inside,

understanding and having
access to the software.

How do you see that their level
of abstraction, if you will?

Do you see that evolving?

It's evolving, but the
vehicle is complex.

There's a there's a limit to,

being able to see everything
and understand everything.

And that's why I chose the
word partner because you really

have to rely on your ecosystem
and the expertise of each and

what they're bringing
to the table.

You need to have
a understanding,

but not a complete
understanding of everything,

I would say.

I think the vehicle is too complex
today to understand everything.

And if you have a partner
bringing maybe the

VLA model, the the

vision-language-action model, I think
you have to delegate that to them.

And they're the masters of of that
really core piece of of software.

There's no way a car
manufacturer could become an

expert of that at the
same time as as they are.

So you need to understand,

you need to be able to

to put it all together and
deliver a vehicle to your

customer that you're proud
of and and responsible for.

But I don't think you have
to be the expert of every

different component.

I totally agree.

And I think there's no doubt
there's still gonna be the

right, I would say, a smart division
of labor between the parties.

In a world you talked about lot
about software updates and and

over the air updates.

How much do you see the pace
of OTA updates changing?

We chatted about that a
little bit beforehand.

Do you do you
because historically,

the OTA updates were
relatively infrequent.

And even in vehicles now where
you're starting to see OTA updates,

it might be every six
months or every three

months or something.

Do you see that that's changing?

Yeah, definitely.

I think,

more the incumbents,
the traditional,

car manufacturers as
we, as we know them,

they tend to be a little
slower in the updates.

They'll group many small
updates into, major, updates.

I think it's more the way we
used to do things in the past.

You look at some
of the new players,

and when I think
about new players,

either on the West Coast in

North America or in China,

the iteration and the number
of updates is probably two,

three hundred a year.

Right.

They go a lot faster.

They're not waiting

for a big one to to add
a little small ones.

I think that will probably be
the trend more in the future.

But I understand why we group
because we need to test and validate.

We have digital twins running
in the background to make sure

that the interaction is
working with everyone.

But

by doing many small ones, I
I think if we see an issue,

we can always pull back.

I think that's a bit of the
approach to some of the some of

the companies as well.

And then, you know, we

were talking about the the process
on the front side,

I think.

But then on on the flip side,

what do you see are the
opportunities, you know,

for the OEMs, for drivers,
for value creation, for, you know,

loyalty and so on that SDV
can bring perhaps compared to what

would have been possible before?

Yeah.

I think SDV is is a huge
opportunity for the end consumer.

The the the pressure of
specifying all the options you

want on the vehicle
when you buy the car,

it could technically
disappear in the future.

Because if maybe
when you buy a car,

you're a young college
graduate, you know,

you have a certain budget,

so you spend everything you can
on your car to get the best of

what you want, but you
can't choose everything.

So as you start working,
car can evolve with you.

And there's this notion that

it's a purchase that might
last three, five, ten years.

It doesn't mean your life is
not gonna change over that

three, five, ten years,

but your your car can
now change with you.

You can add more horsepower.

We've seen that in in some
vehicles from Mercedes or from

Volkswagen.

We can change lighting systems,

another one that
we've seen with Audi.

You can definitely make
the car physically change,

if you have the
hardware in the vehicle,

and then you can also
add new functions.

And, we see that a lot,

with Tesla as well when they're
they're continually offering

new surprise and delight
features in the vehicle.

So I think for the end consumer,

there's a clear way the
vehicle could age with you.

For the consumer, it's a win.

For the OEM, we don't
talk about it much, but,

you have this big spaghetti wiring
harness in the vehicle today.

With SDV, you're
simplifying it a lot.

You're simplifying the number of

controllers you
have in the vehicle.

You're going from about a
hundred to maybe a handful.

Right.

There's less copper in the
wiring harness as well.

So there's more of a cost save,

and that cost save
could hopefully lead to

further further features in
the vehicle in the future.

Further features or improved
margins for OEMs or reduced

cost or some combination
thereof Exactly.

Could benefit could benefit all.

And even if you look at
the overall system cost and the

ability to to do
over the air fixes as

opposed to recalls if you
have issues with the vehicle.

There there's lots of
different angles to it.

We haven't seen all of them yet,

so there's have been a lot of,

maybe apprehension

on will SDVs deliver what
they're supposed to deliver for

the, the car manufacturers?

Will end consumers really buy the features
and functions that we're proposing?

I think that we're still
early, on the path there,

and we'll we will, we
will see benefit for both.

Well, I'm curious about
your opinion of this topic.

And if you think it's
too controversial, okay.

But there's a there's a
question of whether these

incremental features that get
provided are something that's

revenue bearing, you know,
that you charge for features,

or whether they're provided almost
as a free upgrade to

make your car
continuously better.

There's an argument for both.

And and I think you're seeing
different models out, you know,

a significant number
of Teslas, for example,

Tesla's features that
come are generally free.

They have full self driving,
a few they charge for,

but broadly free.

And then you've seen
other makers, you know,

charge for some features and
give other features free.

Do you see the benefit
as more refreshing, evergreen the car,

or do you see it
for ongoing revenue,

or is it perhaps a mixture?

I think it's
definitely a mixture.

I think

you're not really
giving it for free.

You're giving it to increase
loyalty to the brand That's

exactly right,
that's a very smart

way to say it because it's
a long term investment.

When a customer says, "My
car keeps getting better.

I love this car!

My next car is
going be this one."

Or maybe I don't need to change
cars because this car gets I

can stay with it longer.

Exactly.

And that's such a
different way of thinking

about vehicles, right? It

wasn't the way it's been
for such a long time.

No, exactly.

I think

that's why it's a loyalty...they

will understand what works with
different consumers and which

will generate new functions
and features in the future,

which is exactly what we want.

You know, we want to improve this
consumer experience between the

vehicle and the driver or the
passengers of that vehicle.

That being said, there will
always be some that you sell.

You know, I talked
about powertrain before,

and the whole idea of feature on

demand, I think, is is enormously
powerful in automotive.

When you when you make an
electric vehicle, for example,

whether you choose to make it
with a 300 kilowatt or a 200

kilowatt electric motor,

the the real difference is the
amount of copper and and steel

sheets you put in in the
vehicle, for your engine,

for your electric motor.

It's it's it's literally
a question of physics. Yeah.

Physics and cost.

If you choose to sell it at
two hundred and then allow

the the driver to
opt in and more extra

panel actually. Salary might increase

or as they realize they might
like that.

I think that's a really good
point because it's controversial.

People say, "Wait a minute,
you're giving me this car,

but I don't have a full
performance?" Well,

that's a very glass is half
empty way to look at it.

Glass is half full.

Way to look at it is you cut
the car at a much better price.

And if you'd like to upgrade,

you have some headroom that you
don't have to buy a new car.

Well, I always joke
about it, and I say,

it's like a four cylinder
and a six cylinder.

Yeah.

In the past, depending on your
budget or even if you if you

really could afford it,
you could go with a V8.

But you were limited on what you can
spend when you went to the dealership.

And depending on your spend,

if you were like me,

you spent it on on the on
the power of the motor,

and the rest of the options
in the car would follow.

With SDV, don't have to make
that choice anymore because

the power of the motor could
increase over the year as a

feature update if the OEM
anticipated in the future.

So don't think of it as I
bought a car that has this

capacity and I'm not using it.

Think of it as a V6 and
a and a four cylinder.

You afforded the four cylinder,

and you can upgrade it to a six,

something you can never do
before in combustion engines.

Absolutely.

And and I think there's a
similar point about resale

value as well because if if
you have a car that you know

is fundamentally
limited, you know,

sort of hitting its head on the
proverbial ceiling of what's

possible, then the
resale to the next

buyer, when perhaps
you're ready to trade up,

you want to sell your car.

If you know you have
headroom, you know the car's upgradable,

I think the next buyer is going
to be more confident possibly

to know that they can get the car at
at whatever level they want as well.

So I think there's downstream
benefits to to not be ignored.

Yeah. Definitely.

Even for the OEM, for
the car manufacturer,

at least in the car,
they don't have to,

then resell it with
the options you chose.

They can tune it to,

what the market is looking
for in terms of options.

Absolutely.

Well, look, you talk to a
lot of folks around the industry.

You're in a quite a
strategic position.

You know, here at the
show or just in general,

are there other trends or other things
that are on your mind these days?

The the big one definitely is,
a higher level of autonomy.

So, we're talking about
navigation on autopilot,

urban highway.

When is that gonna
be introduced?

How is that gonna be introduced?

I think with the the

vision-language-action models
and a lot of the work being

done on these models today,

we're seeing a
huge acceleration.

Think we'll see definitely
pushing to level three

before 2030, which I
think is a great choice.

I say 2030 because
I'm trying to be,

honest with the market, but
I think we'll see before.

I think in

2027/2028, we'll start
to see a higher volume of

launches giving you full
level three autonomy.

So and that for the first time,
you know, hands off, eyes off,

much safer, much
more relaxed driving,

especially on long distances.

So I think that is a huge one,

really enabled by
these new models,

which then drives this
race to have more powerful

processors and compute, and
how we're gonna manage that,

and how the how do we ensure
that the the vehicle in the

future has the compute we need to
run the models that we're working on?

I think that is a bit of
the challenge in SDV today.

Yeah.

We we don't tend to focus on
autonomous driving here in the

podcast, although in fact,

that was my I spent many years
focusing on in my previous role.

But it is it is exciting.

I drive a software
defined vehicle.

When I when I bought my car,

I specifically chose
one that was --

I'm not gonna name the name --

but I specifically bought
a software defined vehicle

because I felt like I had to walk
the walk that I've been saying.

And I really love it. I really
love the the capabilities.

And just the other day,

I got a big upgrade of
the driving capabilities,

autonomous driving
capabilities on, in this case,

is on highways and some
sort off highway roads.

And it's fantastic.

And while there's a
lot of hesitance about autonomous

driving, when I'm in
autonomous driving mode,

it's probably safer than when
I'm driving because it has so

many cameras looking
six different ways.

Any of us can sort of miss
a blind spot or something,

but they don't it doesn't
miss the blind spot.

So the capabilities
are really impressive.

And so those people who haven't tried
out a car in one of these

levels, you know, full
autonomy is years away,

and we understand that.

But in certain scenarios,

certainly highway for sure and some
other sort of highway-like environments,

it can be very compelling and
very impressive what it can do.

At our office in Sunnyvale,
Waymo is just down the street.

So there's a big deployment of
Waymo in Sunnyvale and in the

Bay Area, and you can now
get those and drive those.

And the numbers are
compelling that driving, --those

are full autonomous driving,
of course,

with LiDAR and
incredible capabilities

-- they're often safer
than human drivers and the

numbers are very clear.

So it's exciting to see
the industry evolving.

It'll be a journey.

Definitely.

But it's exciting to see.

No.

I think it's funny you relate

autonomous driving to
driving like a human.

I think it's one of the main
points that Valeo has been

trying to promote
over the years.

We shouldn't hold autonomous
cars to be as good as a driver.

We have to hold them to be
better than a driver. Yeah.

And that's why we
always push and promote

really triple redundancy:
Cameras, radars, LiDARs.

Yeah.

Because we don't want it to
drive as well as a human.

And humans make, you know,

many accidents over
the course of a year.

We don't want autonomous
vehicles to make those accidents.

So I think,

Waymo has definitely been
a huge pioneer in in the US

and we see other models coming
up and other competitors coming

up and now we start
to see it branch out.

I think, Waymos moved to Japan.
They're moving to London.

It's fantastic to see. I think,
we see Tesla with their model.

We see, you know,
definitely other

other competitors come on.

I think it's a wonderful wonderful
time to be in automotive.

I think that's a
perfect way to wrap up.

It is a wonderful time
to be in automotive,

and it's been wonderful to
have you here with us today.

Derek, thanks for joining us.

Thank you very much.

It's been great!

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