We are happy to announce that XL2 is a new member of our growing IPAI ecosystem. XL2 is a joint venture between Audi and Capgemini and is a consulting firm that specializes in IT solutions in the areas of SAP, cloud and analytics for the automotive industry. XL2 is rapidly growing its service portfolio through the creation and implementation of innovative AI solutions to support sophisticated business processes in areas such as manufacturing, logistics, and many other business functions. Thus far, XL2 has focused on the use of generative AI and computer vision and is also looking to deploy solutions based on these technologies to improve its own efficiency, internally.
To welcome XL2 and to help our members get to know this new partner, we recently sat down with Felix Spitznagel, CEO of XL2, to talk about his hopes for the partnership, where XL2 currently is on its AI transformation and what the company hopes to achieve with this game-changing technology.
IPAI: Hearing about what you’ve achieved already, it sounds like AI is definitely not new territory for you. Do you have an overall goal or vision for your activities related to AI?
Felix Spitznagel: Our vision is to transform, simplify and streamline the business processes of our automotive clients. Our plan – and it’s something we’re already doing – is to combine the in-depth technical and technological knowledge of our people with technologies like AI and computer vision to develop custom and sustainable solutions that will enable our clients to operate more efficiently and contribute to them gaining a competitive advantage in what is a dynamically changing and increasingly competitive market.
Where would you say XL2 is on its AI journey and what are some of the biggest obstacles to implementing AI at the moment?
With regard to our journey, I think it’s difficult to say. After all, the speed with which AI is developing and the rising number of possible use cases makes me think that this will be a never-ending journey, in a positive sense. Today, I’d say we’re at quite an advanced level, with AI already in use across projects and functions, and embedded into our way of working and culture. The main challenges are around data quality and availability and limitations in terms of integrating with existing systems.
„AI is already present in so many aspects of daily life. Our task and responsibility is to harness the power of these emerging technologies for the benefit of our clients and our employees.“ – Felix Spitznagel, CEO of XL2
How do you decide where and how to implement AI-based solutions?
The use of AI must make business sense and bring about real, tangible benefits. To achieve this, we develop custom solutions that are designed to address specific problems. To arrive at these solutions, we typically combine AI with cloud technologies. In this way, we improve the efficiency of our internal operations and our clients’ business processes. This approach also results in the creation of new innovative products and services that sustainably increase the benefits and added value for our clients.
Considering that you are already quite advanced on your AI journey, what are you hoping to achieve through IPAI membership? What do you bring and what do you expect to benefit from?
The main goal of our membership is to promote, contribute to, and benefit from progress in the AI field. I think the best way for us to do this is to be connected to the sharpest minds in the field and organizations with similar ambitions. As a joint venture, partnership and collaboration is in our DNA. We see many examples of the benefits of partnership here in Heilbronn and we hope to build on this through our IPAI membership. For us, the IPAI community is a shining example of how we can exchange ideas about innovative approaches, inspire each other and learn, from each other.
With our experience in the design, development and safe operation of AI-based, we bring valuable know-how, especially in the application of generative AI and computer vision. Our software products are already in use in the factories of our automotive clients and we feel there is potential for much of this know-how to be applied elsewhere. Furthermore, we have extensive consulting experience and can draw on extensive networks through our parent companies, Audi and Capgemini.
For us, it is important that we can experience and contribute to an open and mutually beneficial collaboration and easy access to knowledge exchange. Together with other IPAI members, we want to accelerate progress and push the limits of innovation in AI. We also hope that being exposed to challenges and insights from other industries can serve as valuable inspiration and create even more opportunities to collaborate and create solutions for our respective clients.
How do you understand the role of our innovation platform for you and for the entire economic landscape?
The IPAI innovation platform offers the opportunity to strengthen Germany as a pioneer in AI and at the same time promote knowledge exchange and cooperation between the domains of business, science, academia, and public institutions. For us, this opens up new opportunities to scale our AI solutions and build up expertise more quickly.
Now that we are thinking about AI differently from Baden-Württemberg and Germany and want to strengthen the term “Human AI”, what does Human AI look like for you and what does it mean to you?
For us, Human AI means designing AI in such a way that it puts people at the heart of process and offers transparent, understandable and scalable solutions. We attach particular importance to having an intuitive user interface and a user-friendly experience so that the solution is both effective and enjoyable to use. For us, the best solutions are those that integrate seamlessly into everyday work and make interaction with the technology easier.
Thank you for the informative conversation, Felix! We are happy to share that AI journey with you.