“My view is that cars are becoming the most relevant units on the internet, says Volkswagen CEO Herber Diess. “Cars are becoming devices. They are fully connected. Data streams into the car and out of the car will be much higher than with smartphones. So the car gets a new role in the internet ecosystem. We have to adapt to that.”

Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen, discusses how cars will be the most relevant devices on the internet in an interview with CNBC International at Davos 2020:

Cars Are Becoming Internet Devices

My view is that cars are becoming the most relevant units on the internet. Cars are becoming devices. They are fully connected. Data streams into the car and out of the car will be much higher than with smartphones. So the car gets a new role in the internet ecosystem. We have to adapt to that. From a traditional car manufacturer to become a tech company, it’s quite a long way to go but we are on the way.  It will be a huge transition.

I think it’s great to have a good competition (regarding Tesla building a plant in Germany). We think that Tesla plays a very important role in the transition because they are paving the way. They’re probably running higher risks than we can from the traditional industry but they’re paving the way. They show that electric vehicles are working and that the fully connected car is the right solution. So we appreciate Tesla’s success.