Molly Boigon

Molly Boigon covers how technology reshapes the global auto industry, with a focus on the software, connectivity and policy decisions that determine what automakers can build and sell. She is a technology and innovation reporter at Automotive News and a regular host of its Shift podcast on mobility. Her work follows vehicle software, infotainment, autonomy, alternative fuels and electric vehicles, connecting those systems to regulatory shifts, trade disputes and the semiconductor and data-center economy. She works across print, audio and video, explaining complex technical subjects through ground-level reporting and interviews with executives, engineers and policymakers.

Software-defined vehicles and connected-car infrastructure

Boigon spends substantial time on the move from hardware-centric cars to software-defined vehicles and the infrastructure that connects them. In on-camera reporting from events such as CES, she rides systems like the Las Vegas Loop with supplier executives to unpack what it takes to deliver software-defined experiences and why integration work between automakers and suppliers has become so demanding. Her coverage of vehicle connectivity drills down to how cars actually get online, walking through the role of in-vehicle cellular modules and the need to swap hardware as network generations are retired. She extends that lens to mapping and location services, interviewing leaders at incumbent navigation firms about how they compete with big tech platforms inside connected cars.

Across these pieces, she treats connectivity as a stack of technical and commercial decisions rather than a buzzword, and she presses sources on timelines, upgrade paths and integration pain points.

AI, semiconductors and the auto-tech supply chain

A second through-line in Boigon’s work is how artificial intelligence and chip supply reshape the power balance between automakers and technology companies. She reports on AI firms hoarding DRAM memory chips, forcing automakers to pay steep markups and rethink what qualifies as “standard” on software-defined vehicles. She connects that story to the broader semiconductor chain, interviewing consultants and suppliers about shortages in key inputs like helium and how those constraints influence decisions to lean more on internal combustion and hybrid powertrains that use fewer advanced electronics.

Her podcast reporting on agentic AI in dealerships examines how new software tools move beyond basic automation to change sales processes, staffing and customer handling.

She also looks at how suppliers plan around uncertain EV demand, talking with engineering leaders about standardized packaging and component designs that can serve multiple powertrains and mitigate volume risk. Taken together, these pieces show her as a reporter who treats AI and chips not as abstractions, but as concrete bottlenecks and leverage points in the auto business.

EVs, alternative powertrains and emissions policy shocks

Boigon frequently covers the friction between long-term decarbonization goals and short-term market and policy shocks. She reports on federal emissions rollbacks, explaining how the repeal of foundational rules disrupts planning for automakers and regulators and what scenarios industry insiders see for the next phase of regulation. Her coverage of falling EV registrations examines demand softness after years of growth and how that shift affects investment cases and supplier strategies.

She returns often to alternative powertrains, talking with executives and analysts about how hybrids and other non-EV options fit into plans to meet climate and cost targets when charging infrastructure and incentives are uneven. Moderating panels on policy and elections, she draws out auto leaders’ anxiety about EV costs, future standards and the risk of stranded investment.

Across this work, she ties consumer adoption patterns to emissions rules, taxation debates and the economics of new powertrains, emphasizing the operational consequences for factories, suppliers and dealers.

Trade, tariffs and cross-border auto policy

Boigon’s reporting also follows how trade rules and tariffs reshape the global footprint of the auto industry. In coverage of trade chaos and the renewal of North American agreements such as USMCA, she examines whether updated rules will ease or intensify uncertainty for automakers and suppliers with complex cross-border supply chains.

She hosts and moderates discussions on trade uncertainty and EV costs that surface how executives weigh tariff risk when deciding where to invest in plants and tooling. On the Shift podcast, she explores why early predictions of a tariff-driven “autos apocalypse” did not materialize, probing consultants on how companies adjusted sourcing, pricing and product plans to avoid catastrophe.

She tracks the rise of Chinese automakers, highlighting how their entry into the U.S. market would likely start in less profitable segments and what that implies for domestic competitors and trade policy. In parallel, she reports on regulatory moves that wall off China-linked connected vehicles from the U.S. market and what that means for EV brands and their dealer networks.

This trade and policy thread distinguishes her coverage from a generic technology beat, as she consistently treats software, vehicles and supply chains as subjects governed by treaties, tariffs and national security decisions as much as by engineering breakthroughs.

Boigon brings a watchdog and data-informed sensibility to this work, grounded in prior investigative and multimedia reporting experience and recognized with multiple industry awards. Within Automotive News, she operates as a flexible storyteller, shifting between long-form reported pieces, panel moderating, podcast hosting and event coverage to follow fast-moving technology themes across formats. Her body of work is defined by a habit of connecting the technical details of vehicle software, chips and powertrains to the policy, trade and economic structures that determine which ideas become products on the road.