Sanjay Dhawan is CEO of Cerence, the recent spin-out company from what used to be known as Nuance Automotive. On October 1st it became a separate company and currently has a half a billion-dollar market cap and $300 million in forecasted 2019 revenue. Cerence has over 60 automotive customers and its technology can be found in 280 million vehicles. 

Previously, Dhawan was CTO of Harman International and President of the Connected Services Division. He joined Harman through an acquisition of Symphony Teleca where he was President and CEO. He has held a number of other executive and technical positions at leading technology companies. Sanjay earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Brunel University in England. Cerence is the biggest player today for in-vehicle voice assistants but competition in the space has become fierce. It’s a great conversation about the past, present, and future of voice and AI in the car.