Mercedes-Benz Names a Software Chief to Steer Its Digital Future

Daimler has revealed that Sajjad Khan, the CTO and leader of Mercedes-Benz Cars Connectivity, Autonomous, Shared & Services, and Electric (CASE) unit, has left the company. In his place, the German auto titan has appointed Magnus Östberg to take on the mantle as the company’s Chief Software Officer, effective September 1.

Östberg’s new role will make him the central figure behind Mercedes-Benz’s latest efforts to develop an in-vehicle operating system, called MB.OS, which is slated to launch in 2024. Other aspects of Khan's job as the head of the CASE organization will be distributed among other executives.

“With MB.OS, we made a clear strategic decision for the future of Mercedes-Benz: to apply our own software-platform for our vehicles, for which we are now creating a specific software position to bring together the responsibility for all related development tasks, Daimler and Mercedes-Benz Managment Board Chairman Ola Källenius stated. “Magnus Östberg is excellently suited for this job and I am very much looking forward to working with him.”

Most recently, Östberg was the VP of Software Platform & System at Aptiv, where he was responsible for the development of the ADAS Satellite Architecture used by multiple automotive manufacturers. He has also held roles focused on the vehicle software, infotainment, and telematics at automotive software consulting firm Mecel and aftermarket auto parts company Delphi.

Mercedes-Benz has joined a growing list of automakers, like Volkswagen and Volvo, that are turning in-house to create their own operating systems instead of aligning themselves with third party alternatives like Google’s Android Auto or Apple’s CarPlay. The move ostensibly provides automakers greater control over the driver experience, ownership over cybersecurity, and the flexibility to mold the operating system to their own custom needs.

Currently, Mercedes-Benz is bent on hiring over 3,000 software engineers to develop the OS as well as other tech as the company aims to rely on its own team for more than 60% of the software its car, cloud, and IoT uses.