Robert Ter Waarbeek, principal automotive industry manager EMEA at MathWorks, explains how engineers can advance automotive development with AI-enabled model-based design Automotive development is evolving as software-defined vehicle programs introduce faster feature cycles and more complex system interactions while meeting strict requirements for safety, reliability and long-term maintainability. Gen AI is now part of engineering workflows. It can help increase development speed, but its non-deterministic behavior, lack of physics awareness and limited traceability make it difficult to apply directly to safety-critical systems. These characteristics make verification, certification and traceability challenging when outputs generated by Gen AI are introduced without constraints. Model-based design addresses these issues through deterministic execution, executable specifications and physics-based simulation. MathWorks is bringing these strengths together by integrating Gen AI assistance directly into model-based design tooling, enabling engineers to benefit from accelerated workflows while preserving the rigor required for long-term reliability and certification of automotive software. Simulation as the foundation of trust Simulation is the foundation of trust in engineering workflows assisted by Gen AI. It provides a controlled environment where system behavior can be verified early and repeatedly. Model‑based design enables closed‑loop simulation within continuous development pipelines, enabling Gen AI‑assisted artifacts to be validated continuously in virtual environments long before software reaches hardware. Closed-loop simulation uncovers defects that emerge only from real‑time interaction between software, hardware and physical dynamics, such as instability, timing issues, saturation and integration errors. Unlike regular software tests that validate code logic in isolation, simulation validates system behavior against requirements under realistic operating conditions, catching safety‑ and performance‑critical issues much earlier. In leading organizations, ‘shift left’ is not a one-time activity; virtual verification is embedded directly into continuous integration/continuous development (CI/CD) pipelines. Every change triggers automated builds and simulation runs, exercising models against representative scenarios and acceptance criteria. Verification becomes continuous, not