With the SAQ Platform Enhancement Working Group concluded and continued engagement with OEMs, Drive+ continues to promote a collaborative approach that turns supplier feedback and priorities into concrete outcomes across the automotive supply chain.
Building Momentum Through Collaboration
Over the course of 2025, Drive+ members have been directly involving in shaping the future of industry tools and sustainability standards:
- – The consultation on SAQ 6.0 structure ensured the next version will reflect supplier realities and improve usability.
- – Regular updates from the Drive Sustainability Steering Committee are providing suppliers with early insight into OEM priorities, enabling them to move from passive recipients of requirements and preparing them for what will come next.
- – The completion of the Working Group ensured supplier feedback on the SAQ platform reached OEMs, driving improvements in usability and efficiency.
Working Group: SAQ Platform Enhancements
The first Working Group was tasked with addressing and defining enhancement opportunities for the SAQ platform, to reduce complexity and increase usability. Its goal was to make the platform faster to navigate and more valuable for both suppliers and OEMs.
Through two Working Group meetings, which featured the participation of NQC, Drive+ facilitated open discussions where suppliers shared technical input on what would make the platform genuinely more user-friendly and efficient. As a result, Drive+ developed a prioritized list of eight major issues with related potential solutions, including:
- – Technical improvements of the HQ Function: smart propagation of HQ updates, selective synchronization based on site type/risk, and automated handling of triggered questions.
- – Ensuring timely communication on SAQ updates: DS will share the questionnaire with D+ as soon as the content revision will be done (before entering in the technical implementation phase).
- – Implementing better platform features, including filter and export option, and introducing functionality to allow suppliers to decide employees responsible for SAQs (i.e. with editing rights). A supplier dashboard is being developed to address this point.
- – Increasing list of accepted evidences and enhance evidence upload interface (drag-and-drop functionality, multiple, bigger size, and via hyperlinks documents upload)
On 4 September 2025, these priorities were presented to the DS–NQC User Working Group, ensuring supplier feedback is fully integrated into the work Drive Sustainability is doing to improve and further develop the platform.
Harmonisation and Cross-Recognition of ESG Standards & Tools
With the SAQ Platform Enhancements Working group reaching its end, in Autumn 2025 Drive+ members will tackle an even broader challenge: the Fragmentation of ESG Standards & Tools. As suppliers today face overlapping questionnaires and assessments from different initiatives, the result is duplication, fatigue, and waste of resources. Drive+ is currently engaging with other stakeholders to understand what has already been done and to leverage on existing work. After this initial assessment, the group will work to define the role of Drive+ and activities that can be carried out in 2026 to advocate for cross-recognition of questionnaires, reducing fragmentation across the sector.
Why Collaboration Makes the Difference
These activities demonstrate the unique value of Drive+: by collaborating, suppliers can address challenges that would be difficult to tackle individually and transform time spent on reporting into time invested in meaningful improvement. Participation in Drive+ enables suppliers to influence OEM priorities, contribute to greater industry alignment, and prepare their organizations for evolving EU sustainability requirements.
Joining Drive+ means being part of a one-of-a-kind collaboration that sets the standard for a smarter, more transparent, and sustainable automotive supply chain. Find out more here.
