Event Highlights
Join the ecosystem Working towards Global Reference Solutions
You are invited to join forces in harmonizing safety in the autonomous mobility ecosystem.
Meet the speakers Experience Top-Executives and Thought Leaders
The decision makers of the autonomous mobility industry share their insights in keynotes, panel discussions and workshops at The Autonomous Event.


Global network Connect with the international community
More than 500 representatives from the autonomous mobility industry are gathering in Vienna and virtually to discuss the future of safety in autonomous driving.

Speakers Big names, bigger ideas
Speakers at The Autonomous Main Event 2021


Ploss
Reinhard Ploss has been a member of the Management Board of Infineon Technologies AG since 2007 (mandated until 31 December 2022). He has been CEO since October 1, 2012. Reinhard Ploss was born on December 8, 1955, in Bamberg. He studied process engineering at the Technical University of Munich and received his doctorate in 1990. He began his career at Infineon in 1986 (Siemens AG until 1999).


Avary
As a leader in automotive technologies, Michelle Avary has been at the forefront of revolutionizing the mobility space and has devoted her career in establishing better infrastructures for automotive, autonomous, IoT, and connectivity platforms. At the WEF, Michelle oversees a team and portfolio of initiatives aimed to ensure road transit is safe, clean, and inclusive. The works span defining what is a safe autonomous vehicle, ensuring mobility is inclusive to all including women, elderly, rural populations, and people of color.


Müller
Thomas Müller is Vice President for development chassis, ADAS and autonomous driving at Audi. After working for Mercedes Benz in Brazil, he started his career at Audi in 2001. He worked in the R&D department, headed the braking, steering and driver assistance systems, and “piloted driving”. In November 2016, he was appointed VP for chassis development, taking over in 2018 further responsibility for ADAS and autonomous driving. Since January 2020, Thomas Müller also acts as Executive VP for ADAS and Autonomous Driving in the Car Software Organisation.


Sohn
Young Sohn serves as President and Chief Strategy Officer for Samsung Electronics, and Chairman of the board of HARMAN. He leads Samsung’s strategy for global innovation, investment and new business creation. Young led the $8 billion acquisition of HARMAN. Before joining Samsung, Young served on the boards of Arm, Cymer, and others. Under his leadership, he took PLX Technologies, Synnex Technologies and Inphi public. Mr. Sohn also co-founded the Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), the world’s largest startup competition addressing global challenges.


Jourdan
Frank Jourdan has been President of Autonomous Mobility and Safety and Member of the Executive Board Continental AG since 2013. Having majored in control systems engineering at Darmstadt University of Applied Services, his professional career started with ITT Teves Frankfurt in 1988. At Continental AG, Frank Jourdan is responsible for Assisted & Automated Driving, overseeing automated & autonomous mobility solutions, integrated safety systems and brake systems as well as driving the “Vision Zero” to reality and Software & Systems Excellence strategies.


Reger
Lars Reger is executive vice president and chief technology officer for NXP Semiconductors. He is responsible for managing new business activities, R & D in automotive, industry 4.0, the internet of things (IoT), mobile and connectivity & infrastructure. Prior to joining NXP as CTO of the automotive division in 2008, he was responsible for business development and product management within Continental’s connectivity business unit. In December 2018, Lars was appointed NXP’s CTO and has since then been responsible for the technology portfolio of NXP.


Behere
Dr. Sagar Behere is the Director of Systems and Safety Engineering at Aurora Inc. In this role, he leads Aurora's rigorous engineering efforts to deliver a safe and highly performant autonomous driving system. Prior to Aurora, Dr. Behere has engaged in development of highly automated driving technology for Toyota, Zoox, Volvo, and Scania. He holds a PhD in Reference Architectures for Highly Automated Driving from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.


Victor
Dr. Trent Victor is Director of Safety Research and Best Practices at Waymo. He oversees safety research to support safety evaluations and strategic initiatives; provides his expertise in the areas of collision data analysis, collision causation, injury severity assessments, and naturalistic driving data research and analysis. He coordinates the development of best practices and external industry standard setting groups. Prior to Waymo, Trent was Senior Technical Leader at Volvo, Adjunct Professor in Driver Behavior at Chalmers and at University of Iowa.


Yoshioka
Shinichi Yoshioka serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Renesas. He was appointed this role in August 2019, thanks to his experience and in-depth technological expertise of the products and the market of Renesas. Prior to his appointment as the CTO, Mr. Yoshioka was also the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Automotive Solution Business Unit in 2018, contributing to the growth of the Automotive Business for Renesas Electronics.


Wolfers
Benedikt Wolfers is a founding partner of POSSER SPIETH WOLFERS & PARTNERS (pswp), a law firm specialized in national and international regulation for different industries, notably automotive, energy, finance and infrastructure. He has been engaged for many years in the design and approval process for SAE L3 and 4 systems and the development of homologation and road traffic law. He is advising OEMs, semiconductors, tier 1 companies in Europe and the US and has long-standing experience with national and international regulatory bodies and governments.


Varsavsky
A serial entrepreneur, professor and investor, Martin Varsavsky founded eight companies in the United States and Europe in the last 30 years. He is the CEO of Goggo Network, an Axel Springer/Softbank backed startup that helps to develop the legal and engineering framework for fleets of autonomous vehicles. In 2017, Martin also founded Overture Life, a company devoted to the automation of the embryology lab, which makes him a leading entrepreneur in the field of human fertility.


Overbeek
Edzard Overbeek is CEO of leading location services provider, HERE Technologies. With decades of sales technology experience, Overbeek’s career maps the globe, holding leadership positions at Fujitsu, Siemens and Cisco Systems. Before taking HERE’s helm, Overbeek led Cisco’s Global Services organization, responsible for over $12 billion in revenues. In 2016, Overbeek became CEO of HERE Maps, which has since transformed into HERE Technologies. The company helps democratize global mobility, envisioning to enable an autonomous world for everyone.
Agenda
Writing the next chapter on the future of safe mobility.
Shedding light on why collaboration in the automotive industry is necessary in order to achieve the common vision of safe autonomous mobility in the future.
A real-life example of how the collaboration in the automotive industry between a so-called disruptor and the "classic" OEM can work, why they think it is important and what the future holds for them.
Different countries and regions have different approaches to deciding on laws, standards, and rules for technology companies when testing and driving automated vehicles. The panelists representing both regulatory bodies and the industry will discuss the next steps that can be taken in the autonomous driving field from a regulation point of view.
Security also ensures safety. We will look at the latest cybersecurity findings and discuss with international experts how we can best tackle the new challenges.
We will discuss new approaches to solve the safety challenges that come with autonomous driving and AI applications.
There are different approaches when it comes to designing the architecture for automated driving systems. In this panel, we will discuss the novel approaches to architecture systems in the industry with representatives from the market leaders.
New challenges arose in the past year in the autonomous mobility sector. This keynote offers a best practice example on what to focus on and how to best deal with such situations.
Technology innovation is happening all over the world, startups are trying to disrupt, traditional companies are struggling to keep up. An international view of how the industry dealt with a global pandemic, key learnings and opportunities for collaboration.
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Opening09:00 - 09:30
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Keynote IUntying the knot - why we need to collaborate09:30 - 10:00
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Panel IDisruptive innovation vs. Incremental change10:00 - 10:30
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30 Minutes Networking Break10:30 - 11:00
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Panel IIThe vision is clear, the road is blocked - how regulatory bodies are influencing innovation in autonomous mobility11:00 - 11:45
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Panel IIIBetter secure than sorry - higher levels of connectivity come with bigger cybersecurity challenges11:45 - 12:30
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Keynote IIInsight: How can regulation enhance the security of an autonomous vehicle?12:30 - 13:00
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1 hour - Lunch Break13:00 - 14:00
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Special AnnouncementThe Autonomous will present the next steps for the initiative.14:00 - 14:15
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Keynote IIIOver the Air Update14:15 - 14:45
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Panel IVSafety in AI - how to create truly safe intelligence14:45 - 15:30
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Panel VSafety architectures on the test track15:30 - 16:15
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30 minutes - Networking Break16:15 - 16:45
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Keynote IVNew challenges16:45 - 17:15
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Panel VITaking a look over the globe - how the industry coped with a global pandemic17:15 - 18:00
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Closing18:00 - 18:15
Event Location A hybrid event experience
The Autonomous Main Event takes place in the Imperial Palace (Hofburg) in Vienna as well as virtually. Through an innovative hybrid event experience, we will bring our participants the best of both worlds, facilitating interaction between online and on-site attendees.




News News
Find relevant insights and updates about The Autonomous initiative

The Autonomous joins World Economic Forum’s Global Innovators Community
The Autonomous will work with policy-makers, academics, innovators, civil society representatives and business leaders to make safe autonomous mobility a reality.

The Autonomous reschedules 2021 Main Event to September 29
We are postponing The Autonomous Main Event to ensure our attendees', ecosystem partners', and employees' safety and well-being.

Laying out the challenges in AI Safety
Self-driving driving cars will change urban mobility significantly, but there are still challenges to overcome. One of them is demonstrating the safety of AI-based Automated Driving Systems (ADS).
Downloads
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