AI Auto Podcast Feb 20, 2026

S7E11 - Have you ever made an engineer cry from pure emotion during an interview? I didn't think so!

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Car

Mazda Cx5

The Mazda CX-5 is a small SUV that is good for families and people who want a mix of space and fun driving. The 2026 version will likely have new features and improvements.

Car

Mazda Pro J5

The Mazda Pro J5 is a car model from 2003 that Mazda made. It's known for its interesting design and features that many car fans appreciate.

Concept

SEMA

SEMA is a big car show in Las Vegas where companies show off custom cars and parts. It's a place for car enthusiasts to see the latest trends and innovations in the automotive world.

Concept

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a well-known racetrack in California where many car races take place. It's famous for its unique turns and exciting races.

Part

subwoofers

Subwoofers are speakers that make deep sounds, like bass in music. They help make the music sound fuller and more powerful in a car.

Term

amplifier

An amplifier is a device that makes music louder in a car. It helps the speakers produce better sound, especially for deep bass notes.

Brand

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a famous car brand that makes high-end cars and trucks. They are known for their quality and luxury features.

Term

tire

Tires are the rubber parts on your car that touch the ground. They help your car move and stop safely on the road.

Company

Tyrac

Tyrac is a website where you can buy tires for your car. They help you find the right tires and offer services like fast delivery and installation.

LIVE

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Welcome to the AI Auto podcast with Javier Moda, your front row seat to where artificial

intelligence meets horsepower. Well, today we're here in Encinitas with Matthew Balbuena.

Good to see you, Matthew. How are you, Matthew? I'm good. So we're here for the first test ride

of the Mazda 2026 Mazda CX5. I'm reading here because I get confused with bad witness.

And usually I do my podcast just with audio, but you understand why this one will require

video visuals. So you're responsible for the new multimedia system, which is amazing. We

already talk about that a lot and like Google base and all that kind of thing. And this video,

my intention with this video or podcast to confirm my theory that the automotive industry

is powered by people. It definitely is. A lot of the customers getting the car, turn on the knob,

open, unlock the car, all do this, turn on the radio, adjust the AC before even driving.

They don't realize how much work goes behind that, right? I mean, in this case, I don't know,

a Mazda is a Japanese company. This car is built in Japan. They have huge operations,

not only here in the US, but in Europe, you know, all over Latin America. So there's like,

I don't know, how many, do you know, even know how many people work at Mazda?

In the US, it's, I want to say between the dealers and all the supply chain and everything,

it's several thousands. Within Mazda R&D, R&D design, it's about 100, 150 people. And I am one

of those people at Mazda R&D. But to your point, there are so many interesting personalities

and people that work for the company and so many passionate people. And I am proud to say that I

am one of those passionate engineers for Mazda. Yeah. And there's several, for example, Dave Coleman.

Dave Coleman, exactly. More in charge of the engines and the setup of the car.

The chassis, the dynamics. The way the car feels.

And so you shared a little bit of a story yesterday about when you were like getting into

your first job in automotive and you interviewed with other car makers, I don't know if you want

to mention, but you got that feeling, right? So a lot of what I was looking for in a job is I wanted

to work someplace that was fun to work. One of my very first new car that I bought was a 2003

Mazda Pro J5 that I bought in 2002. And at the time I was in car audio. I was installing car

audio systems for high-end clientele, building show vehicles for SEMA and for CES. But I loved the

car brand. And looking at the car audio industry, over time it got harder and harder to replace the

stereo that came with your car with an aftermarket stereo. It was just like pulling out a couple

cables and that's it. But now? Yeah, exactly. Now it's much the factory audio systems and

radios are much more integrated into the design of the vehicle. So at the time I knew that my

days were numbered in the aftermarket industry. So I had several interviews with different

automakers based in the Orange County area in Southern California. If you know, you know.

And when I interviewed with Mazda, I'm in a suit because I'm interviewing for a job. But the guys

I'm interviewing with jeans and a hoodie. We're making small talk and they're talking about the

racing they were doing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. They were talking about their project vehicles

and compared to the other interviews I'd been on where I'm trying to make small talk and they're

like, oh yeah, the weather. It's nice outside and it's just very dry. They were nice people,

but they weren't passionate people. Yeah, they were doing business. They were doing business.

They were just business people. And when I had this interview with Mazda at R&D, it was like,

these are my people. They are passionate. They're enthusiastic. They want to create the best vehicles

possible that supports their own passions. And so I knew right away it was a great fit.

But I don't know if that was the most interesting part of our conversation. Well, no, no, I'm going

backwards now. Okay, all right. So I mean, I think one of the reasons we started talking more beyond

work and cars and all that because we're our last names. I mean, my motto,

you come up and I think you asked me if I dream in Spanish or English or English and actually

do both. And actually I failed to mention last night, but actually sometimes even I dream in

black and white. Yeah. Or I have the ability to kind of wake up, have to wake up and then

what was the dream or it was real? Oh, it was a dream. I can go back to the dream.

Oh, really? It's really amazing. Yeah. And so what was interesting is, you know, Javier said,

okay, I can dream in English or Spanish, black and white color. For me, English is my second

language. American Sign Language is my first language. My parents are deaf. So growing up,

I was the adult interpreter as a kid. So when I was seven, I bought a car. Wow. When I was eight,

I bought a house. I didn't really. My parents did, but I was the interpreter. Right. So for me,

so much of what I do for work is based on my childhood experiences. Both my parents are deaf.

So for me, English is second. Sign Language is first. And so I'm very, very visual. So I catch

things based in the user interface. So I'm very focused on improving things based on what I see.

I'm also big on audio. I do. Of course. I do the premium audio tuning. Because of that, too. I mean,

your parents didn't don't hear, but they feel you tell me the music. Right. And so you were telling

me about how you put like a, what, how many, four or what? So back when I was doing the car audio

thing, my dad had a older Ben's and I put four 12 inch subwoofers running off of a 2000 watt amplifier.

He could not hear a word, but he could feel it. The vibration. And he loved it. And one of the funnier

stories. I don't even think I mentioned this last night is after I installed the system in his, in

his car, he takes his coworker out to lunch. He's so proud to show off the car. So he takes his

coworker out and he hits play on the CD player and his coworkers face turns white. My dad didn't

realize what he was listening to was, uh, I think it was Snoop Dogg. Okay. So it was explicit lyrics

and his coworker was a born again Christian. Oh my God. And was offended at the lyrical content.

And he thought that he was showing you because of the lyrics. Well, he didn't know. He's like,

listen to this. And it was just profanity. So I had to go back and burn CDs that were all radio

edit. So that way everything my dad listens to is safe for work. So what, but that experience

growing up with your father and your parents, your mother too, without being able to listen,

like really, it's shaped. Exactly. Eventually consumers are going to get into a new system.

Right. So one of the things for me when I, when I'm helping tune the Bose premium audio systems

is I want an experience that you can feel. Yeah. So when you get in the car and you turn it up,

I want you to have that tactile impact. Cause typically if you're listening to your music

outside of the car, you're listening on what earbuds, a portable Bluetooth speaker,

you can't feel the music with that. Yeah. So when you're in a car, in many cases,

the car is the best sounding audio system the person has. That's why I record my podcasting

cars. There you go. So I want to deliver an experience that gives you that tactile feedback.

One, because I know it's enjoyable. Two, it's also kind of limited homage to my parents.

Exactly. Making sure that my parents can enjoy my work, even though they may not be able to

directly hear it. It's kind of a big deal for me. And so when I look at user interfaces,

again, because sign language is such a visual communication, so is the user interface. You're

taking in information and you're understanding things. So I focus on icon design, layout, text,

everything you see in a Mazda vehicle. I have had some sort of input on or control over every

single word that is shown in the settings menu. I have the size, the color. All of this I have

written, reviewed or curated. Same thing with the gauge cluster. So because of my background,

I studied industrial design. I wanted to get into transportation design, but my enthusiasm for car

audio for automotive technology brought me into a different space in the vehicle, but it's worked

out perfectly because it's pulled from my experiences as a young adult, even as a child,

and have enabled me to bring my heritage, my history, combined with my passion to create

kind of this ideal user experience. So when every customer gets into a Mazda now, they know

what's Matthew and the inspiration from your father and your mother to create this. So experience

that. But let's go back a little bit back with your father story because it's amazing. He was

from Colombia. He had an action or whatever, but tell us what caused him and how successful

he became despite this. So I am here. I exist obviously because of my parents and my father

was born in Cali, Colombia and moved to Bogota at a young age. He was a rambunctious youngster

and when he was about eight years old, he was kind of a little mischievous little brat. He was up

at a tree and he had a little blow dart gun and he was popping passerbys and they were like,

oh, what the hell? And it was just shooting berries or rocks. Yeah, nothing really harmful,

but just mischievous. And so he was done causing havoc. He puts the blow dart gun down his waist

band and he's trying to climb down the tree. Well, he loses his grip and he falls and he

lands on his butt. But the blow dart gun was sticking out of his waist band and it impaled

the roof of his mouth. So he's bleeding out of the mouth, but he's okay, but he's bleeding.

So his mom takes him to some local clinic. They stitch him up. They give him some antibiotics

and they send him home. So all is well that night. The next morning he wakes up and he realizes that

his pillowcase is just soaked in blood and he's got blood coming out of his ears and mouth and

he's just like, what the heck? And so he stumbles into his parents' room and his parents are up

in bed reading the paper and he tries to yell, but he doesn't make a sound and he then smacks

the foot of the bed and his parents drop the paper, freak out because they see their eight-year-old

son who's in blood everywhere. They wrap his head up in towels. They rush him to the hospital.

They get to the hospital and the doctors, they're like, there's no wound. The roof of his mouth,

that's looking good. So they do blood work. And when they looked at the lab results,

they discovered that he had a toxic level of veterinary antibiotic. The doctor,

the doctor they had seen the day before in the clinic was a fraud and had given him an antibiotic

that was meant for a cow. So a thousand pound animal's worth of drug into like an 80-pound

kid's eight-year-old. Yeah. That was what ruined my father's hearing. And in Columbia at the time,

unlike the US, where in the US, if you have a disability, a vision, hearing, you are still

guaranteed at least a high school education. You're given assistance. You're giving the right

educational support to ensure that you graduate. Well, in Columbia at the time, it's like, well,

you're on your own. If you can pay for private school, okay, but you're not getting any help from

the public school system. And unfortunately, my grandparents didn't have the support to do that.

And so he unfortunately only has a third grade education. So he ended up kind of working odd

jobs on the streets. He would shoe shine. He would just do whatever kind of busking, whatever he could

do to earn a buck. And over the years, he befriended an American who had come to Columbia who was

deaf. And he was a, he had set up a missionary outreach and had kind of herded in the hearing

impaired in Bogota and was teaching them American sign language and trying to give them,

I was wondering about that. It's different, right? It's different. So different countries have

different versions of sign language. So if I, if I travel and I see somebody in Germany signing,

Oh, you don't understand. Like, I don't understand the German when they speak,

but some signs are universal. Like drink, no matter what country you're in, this is drink.

It is good. Yes. But in other countries, sometimes the signs, I don't understand. So this, this

American had taught my father American sign language. And my mom and some of her friends

had gone down to Columbia as part of some missionary trip. And my dad ended up being

their unofficial tour guide. And so he knew enough American sign language to show them the

site. He's like, you know, this is the store. This is the party place, whatever it was. And

they felt for my dad because being a deaf adult at this point, you can't drive. You can't vote.

And you're actually weren't allowed to enter any government building. Like you were seen

as a pariah. You were seen as like, you were a less than and they felt bad for my dad because

they realized if he remained in Columbia, he didn't have much of an opportunity. Right.

So they pulled their money together and helped my dad buy a one way ticket to LA.

Wow. So he comes out to LA in 1971. He marries my mom in 1973. I came out in 1979.

So my dad had nothing but a third grade education. He lands in the US at 18 years old.

And so he's in the LA area and they go to a, I want to say it was Catholic Industries was the

name of the organization. And this organization focuses on job rehabilitation for disabled

adults. So they help them find work, whether it be, you know, visual, hearing, cognitive,

or even physical disabilities, they're working with adults to find them applicable skills.

My father goes through Catholic Industries and gets a job working in a machine shop,

refinishing the machines. So sanding off the drill press. No, it's not really mechanical,

but just maintenance. Yeah. Just physical labor, sanding, painting. And he's,

he's working there for a couple of months and he sees a machine that's out of order and he

describes it as this kind of John Wayne technician comes strutting in with a tool belt. Yeah. He's

got like a hard hat. Intimidating, right? Yeah. The guy comes in, takes the machine apart, pulls

this component and says, this is no good. Throws it in the trash. He's like, I'll be back in a

couple of weeks. I'll order a new part when it comes in. I'll install it. Yeah. But my dad's

all curious. He's like, why did the machine break? What happened? So he asked his boss. He's like,

can I, can I check that part? Can I, can I fix it? And his boss was like, they can't fix it. That's

why they ordered a new one. He's like, on your own time, on your lunch, whatever, you can play with

it. So first lunch break comes around. He takes it apart and he looks at it and he realizes he's

like, okay, I see this. So he, he, whatever he does, he fixes it. He puts it back together and he

goes to his boss. He's like, I think I fixed it. And his boss was like, that's impossible. The guy

said it wasn't able to be fixed and they had to replace it. And then it's like, no, no, no, I think

I fixed it. So he's like, okay, after work, we'll, we'll put it back in and we'll see if it works.

So they install this part that my dad had repaired, fire up the machine and everything works. So at

this point, his boss realizes, okay, the guy that can just sand and paint the machines can do more.

So he takes my dad under his wing and starts teaching him how to operate the machinery,

how to become a machinist. And so my dad spends the next couple of months learning,

well, his boss quits. And my dad's like, what the heck? This guy was my future. His boss quits and

goes to a different company. And my dad's just, okay, doing his machinist job with the small

skills that he knew, just kind of keeps plugging along. Well, six months later, his old boss reaches

out to him. Hey, Renee, you want to come work with me? But it's like, yes. So then my dad goes and

joins his old boss at his new place. And my dad ended up before retiring from that company,

before leaving that company, because the company moved out of state. He worked there for 18 years.

In that span, he started off as a machinist, moved his way up to a tool and dye maker and left the

company as the production engineering manager. Completely self taught. And he had engineers

reporting disability and people would feel sorry about something. And then he had a huge white

board in his office. And that's how you would communicate with staff. He would just write

and figure things out. But his unorthodox education, learning on the job, taught him

things that engineers straight out of college did not know and could not figure out. And he

would butt heads with the traditionally trained engineers that would design something. And my

dad's like, you can't build that. You may have designed it, but physically is impossible to

produce. And they guys are like, no, no, this, this can be done. And my dad's like, all right,

we'll do it your way. And then the engineer realized, Oh, Renee was right. I couldn't do this.

And my dad's like, let me show you how I would do it. And he would manually mill and lay the machine

the parts or the, the, the, the tool and die and, and bring it to the engineer. So my dad,

with just a third grade education holds multiple design patents, multiple inventions,

completely self taught and is truly the epitome of the American dream. Absolutely. I am here

because of him. Exactly. I was going to say his best creation, Matthew. I don't even know if that's

true, but, but because of him and because of his struggles in his efforts, I am proud to be

an engineer and following in his footsteps. No, it's amazing. I mean, amazing story. And it's,

it's, it's good to feel emotional because I mean, he deserves a lot of credit. And now people,

when they get into the new Mazda, or any Mazda, because you've been working for the company for

a long time, you know, now René Valgoena and Matthew Valgoena are the reason for it.

There is a story behind every person and there's a story behind every feature.

And I am proud of my efforts to bring that to you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.

My dad signed René. His true name is, it's, it's, uh, Francisco René. Yeah. So it's,

thank you, Francisco. Okay. Thank you. There you go. Thank you very much for listening and watching

this podcast. Thank you. Have a good one. That's it for today's AI Auto podcast

with Javier Moda. Hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we did. Tune in next time for more on

how AI is steering the wheel of tomorrow's autos. Drive safe, stay curious, and catch you later.

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