What drove automotive development in 2026? To find out, Perforce, Auto IQ, and the Eclipse Foundation surveyed over 450 industry professionals from across the globe. Their responses revealed the challenges, technologies, and strategies development teams focused on throughout the year.
In the constant race toward innovation, viewers gained the insights needed to keep pace with shifting market patterns and emerging trends — with highlights from the report presented in this webinar.
The author of the report, Director of Compliance Jill Britton, and Senior Director of Sales Engineering Gerhard Krüger discussed notable trends and provided their expert interpretations of the 2026 results from the report, 2026 State of Automotive Software Development.
Key webinar takeaways included:
- Quality remained the leading development concern.
- 71% of automotive developers reported using AI in their product design.
- Safety remained a top concern as regulations and guidance around AI continued to evolve.
- Modernizing toolsets was essential for managing the explosion of diverse software components for SDVs, such as EV charging, energy management, and 3D visualization.
Presenters
Jill Britton
Jill Britton has over 30 years of embedded software experience across a variety of industries. She has worked as a software engineer and manager for telecommunications, automotive, defense, and education software.
Jill is now the Director of Compliance at Perforce and is a committee member of MISRA. Jill holds a BSc in Computer Science and Statistics from Newcastle University, and a MSc in Computer Science from Brunel University London.
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Gerhard Krüger
Gerhard Kruger is a Senior Director of Sales Engineering for Perforce ALM. Since 2004, he has been helping customers around the world implement Application Lifecycle Management and DevOps solutions to achieve their development goals. Gerhard leverages his experience to lead innovation and product development for Perforce ALM. He frequently hosts the ALM User Group and produces webinars to help users get the most out of their investment.
Gerhard holds numerous certifications, including the Cisco Certified Network Professional Security (CCNP) and Certified ScrumMaster (CSM).