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Audio Book: From the Transactional Age to the Intelligence Age

The Complete Guide to AI Transformation in Automotive

Perfect for listening while driving between dealerships, during your commute, or whenever you need hands-free learning.

Join us for the complete audio reading of Barry Hillier's groundbreaking book that's reshaping how automotive leaders think about AI transformation. This isn't another book about AI tools and vendors—it's a comprehensive framework for building organizational Intelligence that creates sustainable competitive advantage.

What You'll Learn:

🔍 The Real Problem: Why 70% of automotive AI initiatives fail (hint: it's not the technology)

📊 The 7-Stage Framework: How organizations move from AI tools to Intelligence architecture

⚠️ Coordination Debt: Why accumulating AI tools without architectural thinking creates more problems than solutions

🏗️ Intelligence Architecture: The blueprint for organizations that learn, anticipate, and coordinate as unified systems

👥 Human Architecture: Why the people side of transformation determines technical success

🎯 The Pioneer's Choice: Whether to architect Intelligence standards or inherit them from competitors

Written From Inside the Transformation

Unlike most business books written after patterns are clear, Barry Hillier wrote this while actively building Intelligence architecture solutions. As co-founder of Auto Agentic AI and host of the Auto Intelligence Podcast, he provides frameworks for navigating uncertainty while industry standards are still forming.

For Automotive Professionals Who:

• Feel their AI initiatives are productive but not transformational
• Want to understand why coordination gets harder as AI tools multiply
• Need practical frameworks for strategic AI decision-making
• Recognize that competitive advantage is shifting toward Intelligence coordination
• Are building the future of automotive, not just implementing technology

12 Chapter Complete Journey:

From foundational concepts through practical implementation, this audio book provides the complete roadmap for transitioning from the Digital Age to the Intelligence Age.

Perfect for: Automotive executives, dealer principals, OEM leaders, technology directors, and anyone respons

Auto Agentic (www.autoagentic.ai) is an automotive intelligence company architecting how AI actually operates across dealership organizations.

Founded in 2024, Auto Agentic was created to solve a problem no vendor was addressing: automotive didn’t lack AI tools—it lacked intelligence architecture. As features multiplied, coordination worsened, insight fragmented, and transformation stalled.

Auto Agentic exists to change that.

We design agentic intelligence systems that unify operations, coordinate data and workflows, and enable organizations to move from fragmented automation to connected, predictive, and self-improving intelligence.

Our work is built on three foundations:
• the Automotive Intelligence Pyramid
• a coordinated agentic architecture of 75+ automotive-native agents
• and systematic transformation partnerships

Auto Agentic is SOC 2 Type II certified and trusted in regulated environments.

We don’t deliver tools. We build operating intelligence.

We partner with dealer groups and OEMs to architect how intelligence flows across their organizations—creating companies that coordinate rather than hand off, predict rather than react, and build advantages that compound over time.

Send a text

Canada's $7.5B Automotive Gambit: Scrapping the EV Mandate, Courting China, and Racing Against CUSMA

Episode Description:

Prime Minister Mark Carney just announced the most significant shift in Canadian automotive policy since the 1965 Auto Pact. On February 5th, 2026, Canada repealed its EV mandate and committed $7.5 billion to a radically different strategy—one that bets on trade diversification over U.S. dependency.

What's Inside This Deep Dive:

Steve and Claire break down Carney's five-pillar strategy that's reshaping Canada's automotive future:

• $7.5B Financial Breakdown: $3B Strategic Response Fund, $2.3B EV rebates, $1.5B charging infrastructure, plus the game-changing Productivity Super-Deduction cutting investment taxes to 13%

• Technology-Neutral Approach: Scrapping rigid EV sales targets for emissions standards—but the government admits their 57% reduction modeling won't be ready until late 2026

• The China Play: Exactly 49,000 Chinese EVs annually at 6.1% tariff, with BYD and Chery in "active conversations" for Canadian joint ventures

• Toyota-Honda Dominance: These two Japanese manufacturers now produce 77% of Canadian vehicles—but Toyota says Trump's tariffs make Ontario "unsustainable"

• CUSMA's Make-or-Break Moment: The July 1st, 2026 review could reshape North American automotive forever

Industry Voices Featured:

• Brian Kingston (Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association): "The mandate was disconnected from reality"
• Tim Reuss (Canadian Automobile Dealers Association): Calls it a "strong commitment" responding to "market realities"
• Lana Payne (Unifor): "The free ride must end" for companies taking from Canada's $100B market
• Pierre Poilievre's sharp criticism: "Subsidizing American vehicles and killing Canadian jobs"

The Missing Pieces: What the strategy doesn't address—provincial coordination beyond Ontario, Indigenous community consultation, dealership network impacts, cybersecurity frameworks for Chinese vehicles, and implementation gaps that could determine success or failure.

Why This Matters Now: Canada faces simultaneous crises: U.S. tariff devastation, Detroit Three retreat, and the most compressed automotive transformation timeline in decades. Assembly plant employment dropped from 32,700 (2015) to 23,700 (2024)—before the tariff impact.

This isn't just about Canada. It's about how automot

Auto Agentic (www.autoagentic.ai) is an automotive intelligence company architecting how AI actually operates across dealership organizations.

Founded in 2024, Auto Agentic was created to solve a problem no vendor was addressing: automotive didn’t lack AI tools—it lacked intelligence architecture. As features multiplied, coordination worsened, insight fragmented, and transformation stalled.

Auto Agentic exists to change that.

We design agentic intelligence systems that unify operations, coordinate data and workflows, and enable organizations to move from fragmented automation to connected, predictive, and self-improving intelligence.

Our work is built on three foundations:
• the Automotive Intelligence Pyramid
• a coordinated agentic architecture of 75+ automotive-native agents
• and systematic transformation partnerships

Auto Agentic is SOC 2 Type II certified and trusted in regulated environments.

We don’t deliver tools. We build operating intelligence.

We partner with dealer groups and OEMs to architect how intelligence flows across their organizations—creating companies that coordinate rather than hand off, predict rather than react, and build advantages that compound over time.

Send us a text

Canada Breaks Ranks: How the China EV Deal Reshapes North American Automotive Intelligence

In a move that blindsided the automotive industry, Prime Minister Mark Carney just shattered decades of North American trade unity. Canada slashed tariffs on Chinese EVs from 100% to 6.1%, implementing a sophisticated quota system starting at 49,000 units annually and rising to 70,000 over five years. President Trump's response was swift and uncompromising: an immediate threat of 100% tariffs on all Canadian goods entering the United States.

This isn't just another trade skirmish. This is a fundamental rewiring of how the automotive industry operates when traditional stable relationships become geopolitical pressure points overnight. Join Steve and Claire from Auto Agentic as they dissect how this Canada-China EV deal exposes the critical gaps in automotive intelligence architecture and why the industry needs systems that can coordinate across multiple shifting variables simultaneously.

Deep Dive Analysis Includes:

The strategic mechanics behind Canada's requirement that at least half of Chinese EVs must be priced at or below 35,000 Canadian dollars by 2030, explicitly targeting mass-market adoption rather than premium segments. This affordability constraint reveals Canada's desperation to jumpstart EV adoption after federal rebates were scaled back in 2025, even as they push toward Zero Emission Vehicle standards requiring 100% electric sales by 2035.

CVMA President Brian Kingston's stark warning that this decision comes "at a very sensitive point" in US-Canada trade negotiations and could "endanger the integrated North American auto supply chain." His exact words: "Canada and the auto industry depends and always will depend on our access to the United States." The fear is palpable that opening doors to China could place the "broader economy at severe risk."

Ivey Business School's Gal Raz frames the impossible balancing act Canada faces: diversifying away from "increasingly unpredictable" US trade policy while maintaining their "deep, decades-long supply chain relationship" with American auto manufacturers. He warns that without parallel policies supporting domestic production, Canada risks becoming "just an import market" rather than a full participant in the EV value chain.

The agricultural leverage at play is stunning. China agreed to cut tariffs on Canadian canola seed from 84% down to 15% and ease restrictions on peas, lobster, and crab. Plus, th

Auto Agentic (www.autoagentic.ai) is an automotive intelligence company architecting how AI actually operates across dealership organizations.

Founded in 2024, Auto Agentic was created to solve a problem no vendor was addressing: automotive didn’t lack AI tools—it lacked intelligence architecture. As features multiplied, coordination worsened, insight fragmented, and transformation stalled.

Auto Agentic exists to change that.

We design agentic intelligence systems that unify operations, coordinate data and workflows, and enable organizations to move from fragmented automation to connected, predictive, and self-improving intelligence.

Our work is built on three foundations:
• the Automotive Intelligence Pyramid
• a coordinated agentic architecture of 75+ automotive-native agents
• and systematic transformation partnerships

Auto Agentic is SOC 2 Type II certified and trusted in regulated environments.

We don’t deliver tools. We build operating intelligence.

We partner with dealer groups and OEMs to architect how intelligence flows across their organizations—creating companies that coordinate rather than hand off, predict rather than react, and build advantages that compound over time.

Send us a text

Steve and Claire deliver their most comprehensive episode yet—a complete deep dive into "From the Transactional Age to the Intelligence Age," the essential AI transformation playbook for automotive professionals. Available free at autoagentic.ai/book, this isn't another vendor pitch but a genuine framework for navigating the industry's most significant transition.

What You'll Discover:

We walk through all twelve chapters plus practical appendix tools, revealing why most automotive organizations are building sophisticated fragmentation instead of systematic intelligence. Learn about "coordination debt"—the hidden cost accumulating when AI tools don't coordinate—and why 70% of AI initiatives fail for reasons unrelated to technology.

Key Frameworks Covered:

• The Intelligence Pyramid: Seven stages from AI usage to organizational intelligence
• Why you can't simply "adopt" AI like previous technologies
• The executive paradox facing Digital Age leaders in an Intelligence Age transition
• Human architecture challenges across generational lines in automotive culture
• OEM ecosystem dynamics and the shifting center of industry power
• The pioneer versus follower strategic choice facing every organization

Practical Implementation Guidance: Complete coverage of assessment tools, vendor evaluation frameworks, data architecture requirements, and strategic choice methodology. We explore why unified intelligence creates different competitive physics and how pioneer organizations are writing the playbooks others will inherit.

Industry-Specific Insights: Deep analysis of automotive culture—commission pressure, tribal knowledge, turf wars, trust deficits—and how they impact AI coordination. Real discussion of generational responses from veterans to Gen Z, plus the unique challenges facing dealer groups versus OEMs in intelligence transformation.

This comprehensive exploration provides better language for conversations you're already having, better questions about AI investments, and better frameworks for designing systems that actually coordinate rather than fragment.

Essential listening for dealer principals, service managers, OEM executives, and automotive technology leaders building the future of automotive intelligence rather than inheriting it.

Download the complete resource at autoagentic.ai/book and join the conversation about building automotive intelligence architecture thoughtfully.

Auto Agentic (www.autoagentic.ai) is an automotive intelligence company architecting how AI actually operates across dealership organizations.

Founded in 2024, Auto Agentic was created to solve a problem no vendor was addressing: automotive didn’t lack AI tools—it lacked intelligence architecture. As features multiplied, coordination worsened, insight fragmented, and transformation stalled.

Auto Agentic exists to change that.

We design agentic intelligence systems that unify operations, coordinate data and workflows, and enable organizations to move from fragmented automation to connected, predictive, and self-improving intelligence.

Our work is built on three foundations:
• the Automotive Intelligence Pyramid
• a coordinated agentic architecture of 75+ automotive-native agents
• and systematic transformation partnerships

Auto Agentic is SOC 2 Type II certified and trusted in regulated environments.

We don’t deliver tools. We build operating intelligence.

We partner with dealer groups and OEMs to architect how intelligence flows across their organizations—creating companies that coordinate rather than hand off, predict rather than react, and build advantages that compound over time.

Send us a text

The Trade Deal That's Reshaping Global Automotive Competition

On January 16, 2026, Canada and China signed a landmark trade agreement that slashes EV tariffs from 100% to 6.1% and opens the door to 49,000+ Chinese electric vehicles annually. But this isn't just about trade—it's a strategic inflection point with profound implications for cybersecurity, intelligence sharing, and the future of North American automotive dominance.

Join Steve and Claire as they decode how this deal creates "rolling spy vans" on Canadian roads, fractures USMCA unity, and positions Canada as a testing ground for managed integration with strategic competitors. From $20,000 BYD models challenging $65,000 Teslas to Five Eyes intelligence concerns, this episode reveals the complex intersection of economic opportunity and national security.

🎯 What You'll Learn:

• How Canada's tariff deal diverges dramatically from U.S. trade policy • Why Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls Chinese EVs "subsidized spy cars" • The cybersecurity implications of connected vehicles and China's National Intelligence Law • How this impacts Five Eyes intelligence sharing and USMCA relationships • BYD's strategy to capture 30% of global EV market share by 2030 • Critical minerals chess game: Canada's resources vs. China's processing dominance • Provincial splits: Ontario's opposition vs. British Columbia's enthusiasm

📊 Key Statistics Revealed:

• Canadian EV sales dropped 32% in 2025—how affordable Chinese EVs could reverse this • China controls 85% of global nickel refining, 70% of cobalt processing • Chinese EV production costs reportedly 1/3 lower than Western competitors • Tesla Shanghai vs. BYD pricing battle in Canadian market

📋 Episode Coverage:

Introduction & Strategic Context - The geopolitical implications of Canada's calculated gambit Deal Mechanics & Provincial Reactions - Ontario's fierce opposition vs. BC's economic enthusiasm
USMCA Tensions & Industry Response - How this fractures North American trade unity Cybersecurity & Intelligence Concerns - "Rolling spy vans" and Five Eyes implications Global Market Dynamics - China's EV dominance and competitive response strategies Critical Minerals Strategy - The environmental paradox and supply chain dependencies Future Scenarios - Strategic implications for automotive intelligence architecture

Auto Agentic (www.autoagentic.ai) is an automotive intelligence company architecting how AI actually operates across dealership organizations.

Founded in 2024, Auto Agentic was created to solve a problem no vendor was addressing: automotive didn’t lack AI tools—it lacked intelligence architecture. As features multiplied, coordination worsened, insight fragmented, and transformation stalled.

Auto Agentic exists to change that.

We design agentic intelligence systems that unify operations, coordinate data and workflows, and enable organizations to move from fragmented automation to connected, predictive, and self-improving intelligence.

Our work is built on three foundations:
• the Automotive Intelligence Pyramid
• a coordinated agentic architecture of 75+ automotive-native agents
• and systematic transformation partnerships

Auto Agentic is SOC 2 Type II certified and trusted in regulated environments.

We don’t deliver tools. We build operating intelligence.

We partner with dealer groups and OEMs to architect how intelligence flows across their organizations—creating companies that coordinate rather than hand off, predict rather than react, and build advantages that compound over time.

Send us a text

Season 2 Launch Episode

The automotive industry just experienced its AI reckoning. $50 billion invested. Massive failures across the board. 42% of companies abandoning projects entirely. But here's what most missed: this wasn't a technology failure—it was an architecture failure.

In this Season 2 launch episode, hosts Steve and Claire dive deep into the systematic intelligence framework that automotive desperately needs. Drawing from experience with 1,200+ dealerships and major OEMs, they reveal why 95% of organizations never built real AI foundations—and why 2026 is the critical year that separates industry leaders permanently.

You'll Discover:

The Automotive Intelligence Pyramid: A 7-level diagnostic framework that explains why most AI initiatives stall and maps the path to autonomous, interconnected intelligence systems.

The Coordination Ceiling Reality: Why your marketing AI promotes vehicles to customers who already own them, your BDC calls service customers who had terrible experiences, and your sales team has no visibility into service satisfaction scores.

The Data Lake Revolution: How Level 4+ organizations create unified intelligence architectures that enable cross-functional AI coordination and autonomous insight generation.

The 2026 Inflection Point: Why this year determines which organizations write the industry playbooks and which spend the next decade following someone else's rules.

The Internet Parallel: How today's automotive AI transformation mirrors 1994 e-commerce—early adopters aren't just getting ahead, they're defining how the industry operates.

Key Framework:

• Levels 1-3: Where 95% get trapped (Awareness, Productivity, Functional Intelligence)
• Level 4: Connected Dealership Intelligence (unified data lakes)
• Level 5: Group Intelligence (enterprise coordination)
• Level 6: Ecosystem Intelligence (OEM-dealer integration)
• Level 7: Agentic Orchestration (autonomous optimization)

Critical Reality Check:

We're not in the middle of automotive AI transformation—we're at the very beginning. No plug-and-play solutions exist. The playbooks for systematic intelligence are being written right now by organizations building coordinated capabilities while competitors accumulate disconnected tools.

Timeline That Matters:

Auto Agentic (www.autoagentic.ai) is an automotive intelligence company architecting how AI actually operates across dealership organizations.

Founded in 2024, Auto Agentic was created to solve a problem no vendor was addressing: automotive didn’t lack AI tools—it lacked intelligence architecture. As features multiplied, coordination worsened, insight fragmented, and transformation stalled.

Auto Agentic exists to change that.

We design agentic intelligence systems that unify operations, coordinate data and workflows, and enable organizations to move from fragmented automation to connected, predictive, and self-improving intelligence.

Our work is built on three foundations:
• the Automotive Intelligence Pyramid
• a coordinated agentic architecture of 75+ automotive-native agents
• and systematic transformation partnerships

Auto Agentic is SOC 2 Type II certified and trusted in regulated environments.

We don’t deliver tools. We build operating intelligence.

We partner with dealer groups and OEMs to architect how intelligence flows across their organizations—creating companies that coordinate rather than hand off, predict rather than react, and build advantages that compound over time.

Send us a text

Description:

Steve and Claire dive deep into the massive strategic shift reshaping the global automotive industry. With $1.2 trillion in investments by 2030, automakers are abandoning the "pure EV or nothing" narrative for sophisticated multi-pathway approaches.

Discover why Toyota's $70 billion electrification investment includes solid-state batteries targeting 750-mile range with 10-minute charging, while Volkswagen Group allocates $60 billion of their $193 billion budget to ICE development. Learn how Ford's hybrid surge is outperforming EV sales, BYD's vertical integration helped them overtake Tesla in European registrations, and why companies like Mercedes pushed their electrification timeline back five years.

Key Insights: Hybrids expected to reach 20-25% global sales by 2026, hydrogen investments surge 70% to $8 billion in 2025, and ICE/hybrids will still comprise 40-50% of emerging market sales through 2030.

Featured Companies: Toyota, Volkswagen Group, Hyundai Motor Group, General Motors, Ford, BYD, Stellantis, Honda, Mercedes-Benz Group, BMW Group, Tesla, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, and major Chinese OEMs.

Target Audience: Auto industry professionals, investors, technology enthusiasts, and consumers navigating the complex landscape of vehicle electrification strategies.

Auto Agentic (www.autoagentic.ai) is an automotive intelligence company architecting how AI actually operates across dealership organizations.

Founded in 2024, Auto Agentic was created to solve a problem no vendor was addressing: automotive didn’t lack AI tools—it lacked intelligence architecture. As features multiplied, coordination worsened, insight fragmented, and transformation stalled.

Auto Agentic exists to change that.

We design agentic intelligence systems that unify operations, coordinate data and workflows, and enable organizations to move from fragmented automation to connected, predictive, and self-improving intelligence.

Our work is built on three foundations:
• the Automotive Intelligence Pyramid
• a coordinated agentic architecture of 75+ automotive-native agents
• and systematic transformation partnerships

Auto Agentic is SOC 2 Type II certified and trusted in regulated environments.

We don’t deliver tools. We build operating intelligence.

We partner with dealer groups and OEMs to architect how intelligence flows across their organizations—creating companies that coordinate rather than hand off, predict rather than react, and build advantages that compound over time.

Send us a text

🚗 This Week's Deep Dive: How AI is Reshaping Every Automotive Career

The numbers are staggering: 39% of workers' core skills will change by 2030. 12 million occupational transitions are needed across the US economy. And the automotive industry? We're leading this transformation.

In our latest episode, Steve and Claire explore groundbreaking research revealing how automotive professionals—from technicians to service advisors—must navigate what researchers call "the most significant skills transformation in modern history."

🔧 What's Really Changing in Automotive

Gone are the days when vehicles were purely mechanical products. Today's automotive professionals work with "software platforms with wheels," managing:

• AI-powered predictive maintenance that anticipates failures before they happen
• Over-the-air software updates and cybersecurity protocols
• Connected vehicle data streams generating massive amounts of diagnostic information
• Electric powertrains with AI-optimized battery management systems

💰 The Economic Reality Check

Workers with AI skills now earn 56% higher wages (up from 25% just last year). Even basic prompt engineering skills command salary premiums of $15,000-$30,000 in non-technical automotive roles.

But here's the twist: it's not just about technical AI knowledge. The research reveals that emotional intelligence, creative problem-solving, and interpersonal skills are commanding unprecedented wage premiums as AI handles more analytical tasks.

📈 The Skills That Matter Most

For Automotive Technicians:

• AI-assisted diagnostics interpretation
• Predictive maintenance coordination
• High-voltage safety protocols combined with software troubleshooting

For Service Advisors:

• Translating AI insights into customer-friendly explanations
• Managing complex conversations about AI-recommended repairs
• Building trust around technology-driven recommendations

For Dealership Leaders:

• Cross-functional collaboration between technical and customer-facing teams
• Skills-based hiring practices (expanding talent pools by 6x globally)
• Change management for technology implementation

🎯 The

Auto Agentic (www.autoagentic.ai) is an automotive intelligence company architecting how AI actually operates across dealership organizations.

Founded in 2024, Auto Agentic was created to solve a problem no vendor was addressing: automotive didn’t lack AI tools—it lacked intelligence architecture. As features multiplied, coordination worsened, insight fragmented, and transformation stalled.

Auto Agentic exists to change that.

We design agentic intelligence systems that unify operations, coordinate data and workflows, and enable organizations to move from fragmented automation to connected, predictive, and self-improving intelligence.

Our work is built on three foundations:
• the Automotive Intelligence Pyramid
• a coordinated agentic architecture of 75+ automotive-native agents
• and systematic transformation partnerships

Auto Agentic is SOC 2 Type II certified and trusted in regulated environments.

We don’t deliver tools. We build operating intelligence.

We partner with dealer groups and OEMs to architect how intelligence flows across their organizations—creating companies that coordinate rather than hand off, predict rather than react, and build advantages that compound over time.