Automotive players know that the battle toward long term profitability involves partners previously not related to the traditional automotive sector value chain, such as European Commission or Google. The interplay with these new entrants generates different engagement frames, compared to the supplier-OEMs relationship in a stable value chain. The need and the forms of performing such partnership with an extended and heterogeneous panel of partners, is a strategic question traditional players struggle with, and it drives to a paralyzing paradox. The tension resides in defining the adequate measure of engagement, the typology of relationship, the length of the time horizon, traditional players should engage with the new players, considering that actions in this direction diverts resources from traditional business. Go for a strong, long-term vision based engagement, with hard-to forecast impacts on traditional business or for a weak, short-term communication goal based one? The communication investigates how heterogeneous partners engage into collaboration aiming at the creation of an ecosystem for the deployment of services involving public and private stakeholders. How does the engagement take off and by which parameters is it influenced?