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"Many things are conceivable," Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said
in an interview with quarterly magazine Deutsche
Unternehmerboerse published on Friday.
The emergence of self-driving and connected cars has made
software a key component in future cars, opening the market to
new entrants like the U.S.-based technology giants.
"Google and Apple want to provide system software for cars and
bring this entire ecosystem around Apple and Google into the
vehicle," Zetsche said. "That can be interesting for both
sides."
His comments echoed those of German rival Volkswagen, <VOWG_p.DE>
whose chief executive Martin Winterkorn has urged collaboration
with technology firms to make future cars safer and more
intelligent.
One option could be for Daimler to build cars as part of a joint
venture by using the digital expertise of its U.S. partners,
Zetsche said, but added that his comments were "purely
theoretical".
Zetsche said Daimler would not allow itself to be demoted to the
role of dumb supplier, simply producing cars for the Silicon
Valley giants.
"We don't want to become contractors who have no direct content
with customers any more and supply hardware to third parties,"
he said.
(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Georgina Prodhan)
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