SBD Automotive Q1 Highlights
- Brandon Miller
- Apr 3
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 15
In the first quarter of 2025, the automotive industry experienced a broad range of new movements, emerging trends, and striking innovations that could, together, become some of the year’s hottest talking points.
From the worldwide AI push finally reaching automotive through the arrival of LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini in the vehicle, through to the growing number of Chinese OEMs expanding further across Europe and into the UK, these last three months have delivered a near-unprecedented amount of activity for the global automotive industry. However, keeping pace with this activity and prioritizing its most important moments can seem daunting.
In this Insight, we will highlight our latest activities from the last three months – including our latest Insight articles and our newest research reports. Together, these activities cut through the noise and deliver clear insights into the most interesting, insightful, and impactful industry updates from the last quarter.
Insights and Additional Content
How will the 2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA influence AI, E-Mobility and UX in the automotive industry?
Co-written alongside four SBD Automotive domain experts, our latest insight explores the potential impact of the 2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA across AI, electrification, and the user experience, while weighing the new car against similar offerings from the China market.
How will today's technology trends impact the in-vehicle user experience of tomorrow?
In this article, we highlighted some of the key takeaways from the newest entry of our UX Enabling Tech Series, which itself performed a deep UX analysis of the vehicle companion apps offered with the cars tested across our 2024 HMI UX Evaluation series.
AI: The new engine driving the future of automotive innovation
Written by our Domain Principal – AI, Andy Qiu, this Insight takes a deep dive into the rapidly-evolving landscape of automotive AI. While analyzing the latest news around automotive AI, Andy profiles the Chinese OEMs leading the charge before spotlighting global auto AI trends.
Upgrade your IVI Strategies with our HMI UX Benchmarking & Evaluation reports!
This article looks at each of the reports issued as part of our 2024 In-Car HMI UX Benchmarking & Evaluation series. While highlighting the top-level takeaways from each report, we also revealed the first details on the 2025 In-Car HMI UX series.
Stay Ahead of the Curve in 2025 with SBD Automotive's All-New Research Reports!
This Insight marked the announcement of our 2025 research reports designed to help OEMs, suppliers, and more make sense of changes occurring across the automotive industry. These all-new reports will explore topics like the SDV, virtual personal assistants, and EV incentives.
All things automotive from CES 2025
CES was one of the most exciting (and chaotic) events of 2025 so far, with hundreds of products showcased and announcements made by its many exhibitors. This Insight compiles our free content from the event, including our Daily Wrap Ups and the CES 2025 Flash Report.
4S Mobility launches at CES in Las Vegas?
The launch of 4S Mobility at CES 2025 was a pivotal milestone for us. In this Insight, we detailed our new initiative aimed at shifting automotive from a technology-first mindset to an outcome-driven approach, and facilitating Safe, Secure, Sustainable, and Seamless mobility outcomes.
Reports Released in Q1
Volvo EX90 In-Car HMI UX Evaluation
In our first HMI UX & Benchmarking report for 2025, the UX team reviewed the all-new Volvo EX90. While noting the benefits of Volvo’s updated Google Built-In implementation, our experts noticed a number of stability issues that hindered the EV’s overall user experience.
Monthly Start-Up Tracker
In recent years, a variety of automotive start-ups have entered and scaled through the industry, with some gaining international recognition. This guide tracks the latest start-up activities and news on emerging start-ups, alongside recent partnerships and acquisitions in the space.
Cyber Security Legislation Guide
This guide offers a reference tool that helps you separate important cyber security requirements from outdated publications – allowing you to confidently focus on the issues that matter. Thorough insights are provided into the history of each legislation and their wider implications.
Cyber Intelligence Guide
This report works to raise awareness of the threats and vulnerabilities affecting vehicles and connected and autonomous technologies. In doing so, it offers insights into the recommended defense and mitigation counters, and the importance of incident response analysis.
EV Legislation & Incentives Guide
While many industry players have strategies for electrification, the legislation around it is constantly changing. In tracking these developments in key regions, and around the world, this report helps OEMs and officials recognize the regulations and incentives for EVs today.
EV Incentives Tracker
This quarterly report analyzes the incentives impacting electrification to help OEMs and dealerships understand what incentives are being offered for EVs today, and the developing trends around them that are impacting customer buying decisions in different regions.
EV Guide
While breaking down the current EV landscape, the EV Guide compares the features being offered across different lineups and details the charging infrastructure for users. It also outlines the policy considerations and environmental impacts for EV development.
Automotive Cockpit App & Ecosystem Guide
This new report represents one of two studies on the in-car app ecosystem. It provides deep insights into the latest trends and activities from OEMs and third-party players from Europe, the USA, and China, and is updated bi-annually to account for new app launches.
Connected & Digital Services Guide
In this report, our experts profile the connected services landscape, and review the strategies being used by OEMs to enable them. It offers detailed insights and comparisons of key players, business models, service availability and more for regions and countries around the world.
Connected Car Legislation Guide
As connected cars become more advanced, so too does the legislation around them globally. In this guide, our experts identify the legislation impacting the development and operations of connected services today, while also understanding the impacts of developing legislation.
In-Car VPA & Voice Guide
In this report, our experts detail the latest VPAs and highlight adjacent features that extend the role of voice in the car. Through it, OEMs can determine the best VPA and voice solutions for their customers, while understanding the potential of AI-based automotive voice solutions.
Autonomous Car Legislation Guide
As more OEMs announce more AVs and AV services, this report explores the legal landscape for AV technologies to analyze the impact of legislation on vehicle autonomy. As a live resource, the guide is updated quarterly, providing you with the latest updates from the legal space for AVs.
Digital Cockpit & Infotainment Guide
With more than 100,000 data points per release, this report details the availability of cockpit systems while highlighting key industry partnerships. A deep dive into the global cockpit ecosystem identifies the solutions and configurations being offered by OEMs in several regions.
Monthly Head-Unit China Guide
The China market not only has the most new vehicle launches per month, but also offers unique features not yet seen in other regions. This monthly guide allows you to track this innovation through expert analysis of the latest launches from China’s domestic and international OEMs.
OTA & Software Updates Guide
In 2025, OTA updates are set to become commonplace in new vehicles. This guide offers planners and engineers the insights they need to assess their strategies against competitors – identifying the types of updates being delivered today, and the features enabled through FOTA.