STARTUP AUTOBAHN powered by Plug and Play Showcases Over 30 Pilot Projects Between Mobility Leaders and Startups at expo2025
STARTUP AUTOBAHN’s flagship Expo event returns on June 5, 2025, for its 14th edition—showcasing collaborative projects and breakthrough innovations from startups and industry leaders across mobility, production, enterprise, sustainability, and beyond. This one-day event in Stuttgart, Germany, will bring together OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, startups, investors, and public officials—the key players shaping the future of mobility.
Europe’s automotive industry is at a turning point—facing tougher competition, shifting consumer needs, and stricter regulations. Innovation isn’t optional—it’s essential. Since its inception in 2016, STARTUP AUTOBAHN powered by Plug and Play has been the open innovation platform connecting startups and corporates to solve real-life challenges. It’s where projects are born, partnerships are forged, and efficiency drives everything.
Guided by this year’s motto, “Tomorrow in Motion—Driven by Efficiency,” expo2025 stays true to its mission: showcasing real case studies, tangible impact, and cutting-edge solutions developed by industry leaders and innovative startups. Held at Im Wizemann in Stuttgart, the event will bring together over 1,800 attendees, including board members and C-level executives, investors, startups, public officials, academics, media, and tech experts.
The agenda includes keynote speeches from board members and industry leaders, panel discussions, expert roundtables, innovation walks, startup pitches, pilot project demos, and side events — all curated to address the most pressing challenges of tomorrow’s mobility, including Circular Economy, Sustainable Materials, Enterprise Applications, Industry 4.0, Advanced Manufacturing, Software-Defined Vehicles, Cost Cutting, and more.
The speaker lineup features the most influential voices of innovation in mobility and those at the forefront of the automotive industry: Katrin Lehmann, Chief Information Officer at Mercedes-Benz; Andreas Haffner, Member of the Executive Board – Human Resources, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG; Kaveri Camire, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer and Global Partner Ecosystem at DXC Technology; Florian Bankoley, Chief Digital Officer at Bosch Mobility; Sebastian Jonas, Senior Vice President Advanced Production Technology at Schaeffler; M. Gürcan Karakaş, CEO at Togg; Saeed Amidi, Founder and CEO at Plug and Play Tech Center; Oli McCrudden, Vice President, Host Cities, at Formula E; and many more.
At expo2025, STARTUP AUTOBAHN will present the Plug and Play Global Innovation Award in the categories of Mobility, Sustainability, Impact, Cross-Collaboration, and Manufacturing—to honor the most outstanding corporate-startup collaboration results.
Pilot Projects and Implementations The showcased pilot projects focus on the following topics: Green Manufacturing & Materials, In-Car Intelligence & New Experiences, Autonomous & Assisted Driving, Smart Manufacturing & Engineering, Data & Analytics Infrastructure, Clean Power & Heavy Transport, AI for Business, Robotics & Automation, Engineering & Simulation Platforms, and Sustainable Supply Chains.
Mercedes-Benz & About:Energy About:Energy partnered with Mercedes-Benz to accelerate the design of fast-charging, longer-lasting EV platforms.
Mercedes-Benz & Frickly Systems Frickly Systems is developing a platform for rapid prototyping of automotive control units for Mercedes-Benz.
Mercedes-Benz & Stardust Stardust empowers Mercedes-Benz’s global autonomous driving platform by integrating advanced auto-labelling algorithms and diverse toolchain features.
Mercedes-Benz & Zendar Zendar could enable Mercedes-Benz to develop enhanced automated driving features and expand its Operational Design Domain (ODD) with a scalable, software-defined radar solution.
Porsche & Blockbrain Piloting Blockbrain’s AI to help Porsche AG optimize specification management and contract analysis.
Porsche & Neura Robotics Piloting Neura’s advanced robotic solutions to increase production flexibility in the logistics areas at Porsche AG.
Porsche & Pull Systems Together, Porsche AG and Pull Systems are working on new, data-based approaches to failure analysis with the aim of significantly reducing troubleshooting times and warranty costs, thus increasing quality and customer satisfaction.
Porsche & Sensigo Porsche Cars North America and Sensigo partnered to improve repair and maintenance efficiency at franchise dealers through AI-driven solutions.
DXC Technology & Schaeffler & Acumino DXC Technology, Schaeffler and Acumino are exploring a unique AI-driven task training to enhance the automation of packaging processes.
DXC Technology & CAMB.AI DXC Technology and CAMB.AI are setting new standards for AI-powered real-time translation and traffic interpretation in vehicles worldwide.
DXC Technology & GreenMatterAI DXC and GreenMatterAI advance automatic weld inspection with AI and synthetic images, solving data bottlenecks for fast, scalable deployment.
ZF Group & AHEAD Automotive With Clarios, HELLA, Niterra and ZF, AHEAD Automotive has developed an AI-based repair assistant for workshops with verified data from the automotive industry.
ZF Group & Range Energy Range Energy and ZF partner to transform the way goods move across the world and improve sustainability as well as safety for all commercial truck drivers.
Motherson & trinamiX trinamiX and Motherson jointly develop a Smart B-Pillar for convenient and secure access to vehicles.
Motherson & revoltech revoltech, Motherson and Volkswagen are pioneering circular, plastic-free materials for next-generation sustainable car interiors.
Schaeffler & DiveCAE The cloud-native SPH simulation from Dive CAE is integrated into Schaeffler’s Bearinx software and enables easy access to a complex calculation method and efficient analysis of lubricant flow in rolling bearings for design engineers.
Bosch & ONEKEY The seamlessly integrated solution from ONEKEY and CycurRISK by ETAS reduces automated risk and prioritises vulnerabilities based on asset impact and context. It reuses existing Threat Analysis & Risk Assessment (TARA) for product cybersecurity while enhancing both risk and supply chain visibility.
Bosch & Blueskeye AI Blueskeye partnered with Bosch to integrate its emotion detection into Evoco, Bosch’s intelligent in-car companion, enabling human-like interaction and a personalized experience.
STMicroelectronics & Stern Tech Stern Tech collaborates with STMicroelectronics to ensure people’s safety on the road.
NXP® Semiconductors & Vibra Nova Vibra Nova and NXP collaborate on next-gen car display interfaces by combining their leading-edge technologies.
Cummins & Verne Cummins and Verne demonstrate next-generation hydrogen storage for heavy-duty trucks.
Eberspächer & pacemaker.ai pacemaker.ai and Eberspächer are building AI-powered demand forecasts to reduce inventory, boost efficiency, and future-proof supply chain planning.
OPmobility & AIRY Automotive AIRY Automotive and OPmobility are developing cutting-edge automotive structures for OEMs to reduce costs, emissions, and weight.
OPmobility & Seamless Digital Seamlessly integrated reflective dynamic surfaces in bumper side finishers — a cutting-edge collaboration between OPmobility and Seamless Digital.
Togg & Buluttan Weather Intelligence Togg and Buluttan turn weather data into a driving companion — guiding users with timely alerts through every turn of the journey.
Togg & Neva XR Neva XR partnered with Togg to transform their T10X smart device into a mobile art gallery with ModeArt—featuring original digital art and new media.
Togg & Wyseye Wyseye and Togg partnered to transform vehicle inspections, reducing inspection time by 95% with AI-driven Pre-Delivery Inspections.
Foto/Quelle: Plug & Play Germany GmbH
