Perspectives: The Value of Membership

As connected vehicle technology continues to evolve, one thing is clear across the industry: progress depends on collaboration. That shared belief emerged consistently in our conversations with COVESA members and is at the core of the Value of COVESA Membership videos, featuring insights from Matt Jones, Global Executive Director of Technology Platforms at Ford Motor Company; Cathi Chinn, Vice President of Innovation at Verra Mobility; and Maurice Dantzler, Executive Director of Corporate Product Cybersecurity and Functional Safety at Cummins Inc.

Together, these leaders reflect how COVESA’s open, global community enables organizations to work together on common challenges, accelerate innovation, and unlock the full potential of connected vehicles.

Collaboration as the Foundation for Innovation

A consistent message across the interviews is that no single company can solve the challenges of connected mobility alone. Whether viewed from an OEM, supplier, or technology provider perspective, collaboration is essential.

“Where else can we have so many different forms of collaboration related to the connected ecosystem?” said Matt Jones, reflecting the broad, multi‑stakeholder collaboration COVESA supports. For Maurice Dantzler, this collaboration is especially critical when developing solutions that must work across multiple OEMs and customers, “Nobody can do it by themselves. We all have to work together and develop solutions that are based on standards, that are based on collaborative work…”

Solving Common Problems Once, Not Repeatedly

Another strong theme across the conversations is the value of shared, common approaches. By developing and aligning around open specifications and reference architectures, COVESA members can avoid duplicating effort and instead focus resources where they matter most.

Cathi Chinn points to the role shared standards play in reducing friction across the ecosystem, particularly through COVESA’s Vehicle Signal Specification (VSS), noting the alliance’s role in “setting the standards and creating this platform of cohesiveness in which we can all accelerate innovation from, so you’re not starting over every time you go to the table.”

This shared foundation allows members to reduce development costs, shorten time to market, and build solutions that scale across the industry.

Accelerating Time to Value for the Industry – and Customers

Beyond technical alignment, the interviews highlight how COVESA helps translate collaboration into real-world value. By removing friction from the development process, organizations can focus on delivering meaningful experiences to customers. 

Cathi Chinn highlights how COVESA streamlines innovation across the ecosystem, “This is the place to be – taking some of the mechanics, the cost, out of the process in which you can deliver value to the customers.”

Maurice Dantzler adds that collaboration across the ecosystem enables solutions to be deployed more broadly and efficiently, “By working together with all of them at once, we’re able to come up with solutions one time that can be sold and used in multiple applications and with multiple OEMs.”

Why COVESA Membership Matters

COVESA membership is described as a strategic advantage, providing access to work in progress, influence over technical direction, opportunities to collaborate on joint platforms, and a powerful global network. As Matt Jones puts it, “The benefits will massively outweigh any of the negligible costs… just from the access to individuals and being part of the COVESA community with all of the different events and technologies.”

Together, these perspectives point to the role COVESA plays in supporting collaboration, shared standards, and ecosystem alignment as connected vehicle technology continues to evolve.

Get Involved!

Learn more about COVESA membership, explore ongoing initiatives, and see how you can contribute to the connected vehicle ecosystem: https://covesa.global/join-covesa/.

Resources:

• Value of COVESA membership with Matt Jones, Ford Motor Company
• Value of COVESA membership with Cathi Chinn, Verra Mobility
• Value of COVESA Membership & Collaboration with Maurice Dantzler, Cummins Inc.