‘The best thing that you can do for your career is to make yourself redundant’: Inside Stellantis’ AI push after the 'starting gun went off’

The Grand Cherokee is lined with wood paneling, its windshield is cracked, and chunks are cut out of its side-view mirrors like pierced ears. That’s where the cameras go, a grinning Joydip Saha tells me from behind the wheel. The manager of Stellantis’ hands-free driving project lovingly taps what he calls “the most broken-up car,” jerry-rigged with a yellow box sitting on the dashboard that lets a human grab control. It’s an industry-standard “kill switch” used in many prototype vehicles. In technical terms, the safety driver can hit the kill switch to disconnect power to the advanced driver assist system module, stopping the ADAS system from controlling the vehicle. Then, the driver has full control over the vehicle.