India, Oct. 5 -- For more than a century, the automobile has been built around controls. Buttons, dials and switches gave way to screens, menus and applications, but one assumption largely remained intact: the human operates the machine.

That relationship is now beginning to change.

Demetris Skourides, Chief Scientist for Research, Innovation and Technology of the Republic of Cyprus, believes the automotive industry is entering another fundamental transformation, one that could ultimately prove even more consequential than the transition from the internal-combustion engine to electric mobility.

Speaking at the HT Auto Leaderboard Awards 2026, Skourides outlined a future in which artificial intelligence moves beyond the dashboard and be...