(Photo: Bernardo Rodriguez, J.D. Power CTO & CDO) August 27, 2023 –Palantir Technologies is not a well-known name in the automotive retail space. But that may soon change as it expands from an intelligence and defense-focused software firm to one of the leading AI providers in the commercial space.

Palantir is one of the more intriguing, mysterious, and fascinating tech companies in the U.S. The software firm, founded by Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal and Facebook’s first outside investor) and Alexander Karp, who has served as Palantir’s CEO since its early years, raised its first institutional round of capital through a venture capital firm backed by the CIA nearly 20 years ago.

The company announced its entrance into the automotive space last month via a partnership with J.D. Power. The two companies began working together last January to integrate J.D. Power’s data, which includes incentives, retail sales, valuations, vehicle configuration, service and warranty, new and used inventory, and automobile customer experience data on Palantir’s Foundry platform. 

The press release announcing the partnership claims J.D. Power has already developed the following predictive analytical solutions with Palantir: 

• Repair Analytics: J.D. Power and Palantir have developed a repair analytics application that monitors warranty costs and automatically flags areas in need of further attention to give auto OEMs and dealers a proactive means of predicting and managing vehicle repair costs.
• Intelligent Alerts: The newly developed intelligent alert system tracks vehicle-specific sales activity, competitive dynamics and macroeconomic trends, allowing OEMs, dealers and financing companies to optimize their incentive strategies based on real-time, hyperlocal data.
• EV Battery Health Analytics: A new electric vehicle (EV) battery health monitoring application analyzes battery health in large fleets and delivers insights and data that can be used for quality and performance improvement management.
• Digital Journey Optimization: A data hub that combines auto OEM customer engagement data with J.D. Power pricing and satisfaction insights enabling auto OEMs and dealers to target shoppers and owners in the optimal channel with a personalized message.

In a January presentation at Palantir’s 2023 FoundryCon event, J.D. Power’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer Bernardo Rodriguez outlined what the two companies had already started building. 

Rodriguez Keynote at Palantir’s FoundryCon US23 January 2023

Fast forward to June, Rodriguez again was on stage at a Palantir event — this time, its AIPCon 2023 conference — to talk about how his firm had built a vehicle search application using Palantir’s generative artificial intelligence platform. 

Rodriguez Keynote at Palantir’s AIPCon June 2023

Palantir is angling to be the generative AI leader for enterprise-level companies and industries.

For J.D. Power, which is owned by Thoma Bravo, a private equity giant in the software space, the Palantir relationship should enable it to leverage its data better to build revenue-generating solutions. 

The relationship is the latest and most visible play for Palantir in the automotive space. Judging from a September 2022 blog, the company has big plans for automotive — including OEMs, dealer groups, and tech vendors. 

How Palantir’s Automotive Solutions Will Revolutionize Quality