“With the automotive space undergoing an unprecedented transformation on the eve of autonomous and increasingly connected vehicles, Cerence has an important role to play.” – Prateek Kathpal, CTO, Cerence

Automotive tech specialist Cerence Inc. is continuing to pick up speed with the appointment of a new Chief Technology Officer.

Prateek Kathpal comes to the company from View, a developer of dynamic smart window technology, where he served as General Manager of IoT and AI products since May of this year. Before that, Kathpal was Polycom’s VP of Cloud, AI, and Platform for four years. He has also held executive positions with Accusoft and HighQ, and was the founder and CEO of OnDemandCM and Adeptol.

The appointment comes soon after Cerence’s official spinoff from parent company Nuance Communications a little over a month ago. In a statement announcing Kathpal’s new role, Cerence emphasized his “more than 20 years of experience in fast-moving and high-growth environments.”

“Prateek is a strong leader and strategist who brings deep product management expertise to the Cerence team at this pivotal stage,” added Cerence CEO Sanjay Dhawan. “He has a proven track record of leveraging innovation and a well-defined product roadmap strategy to drive growth and identify new business opportunities.”

For his part, Kathpal expressed excitement about both Cerence and the dynamism of the connected car space in late 2019. “With the automotive space undergoing an unprecedented transformation on the eve of autonomous and increasingly connected vehicles, Cerence has an important role to play,” he said. “I look forward to advancing our innovation and technology leadership with the rest of the Cerence team.”

News of the appointment arrives on the heels of Cerence’s announcement of a partnership with Indonesia’s Wuling Motors, in one of the company’s first major partnerships since it hit the road as a standalone AI specialist.