John Ludwig is an electrical engineer and the president of Xevo's Artificial Intelligence (AI) Group. Xevo is a tier-one OEM software company, located in Seattle, that manages automotive software for driver assistance, engagement, and in-vehicle entertainment. Its main product is the Xevo Market, a merchant-to-driver commerce platform that uses a vehicle's infotainment screen to make purchases and transations from inside the car. Xevo Market launched at the end of 2017 and is already available in millions of vehicles. Prior to working with Xevo, Ludwig was a software manager with Microsoft, overseeing operating systems and online service projects.

It won't be long before connected cars serve two masters: owners and manufacturers. And one software maker thinks it can build car brains smart enough to work for them all. If you drive an Entune-equipped Toyota (most of them) or a Lexus with Enform, you're already using connected-car software from UIEvolution (recently renamed Xevo). Besides getting a new name, Xevo is also about to acquire Surround.io, More: Connected cars: will you need an in-car ad blocker?