Continental's new CTO to lead retooled R&D pillar

At a recent media roundtable with its executives, Continental introduced its new CTO, Dirk Abendroth, who took on that role on January 1, 2019. Abendroth, 43, will serve as chief technology officer of Continental's upcoming Automotive Group and report to Continental CEO Elmar Degenhart. Abendroth joins the global supplier from EV start-up Byton, where he led Powertrain and Autonomous Driving development since July 2016. The Hamburg native was previously at BMW in Munich in EV development, including work on the BMW i3 and i8.

Note the term “upcoming,” as perhaps equally significant with its new CTO is a foundational change in Continental's corporate structure, along with a large shift in engineering expertise. The change in corporate structure is adapting to overall growth, and the company also plans to shift thousands of engineers to help it adapt to the rapidly evolving automotive landscape. Under its new Automotive Group, Continental will pool its R&D resources to instill faster creation of next-gen autonomous and connected mobility tech.