Event Highlights

Meet our speakers A global network of industry & thought leaders

Our carefully curated speaker lineup includes C-level executives, top safety experts and senior decision-makers from the global autonomous mobility industry.

Speakers 2022

Key Topics Setting the autonomous mobility agenda

Over 500 executives and experts from the autonomous vehicle space are gathering to discuss and act on the biggest safety challenges for autonomous mobility.

Agenda

Secure your ticket You can join us in-person or virtually

The Autonomous Main Event brings together the people and companies working on crucial safety topics for the future of autonomous mobility.

Tickets

2022 Key themes What awaits you this fall

You want to get an idea of what to expect? Read through our recent article and discover the key themes for this year’s edition of our flagship event.

Main Stage Topics

Join the ecosystem Working towards Global Reference Solutions

You are invited to join forces in harmonizing safety in the autonomous mobility ecosystem.

The Initiative

Save the Date

We are thrilled to announce our next annual The Autonomous Main Event, coming to Vienna in a hybrid format on September 27, 2022!

Incredible speakers, C-level executives, and technical experts from across the world will gather for unparalleled in-person and virtual networking opportunities to advance the future of safe autonomous mobility.

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Speakers 2022 Big names, bigger ideas

Meet this year's industry leading speakers

Mercedes-Benz AG
Vice President MB.OS Automated Driving, Powernet & E/E Integration
Georges
Massing
Mercedes-Benz AG
Vice President MB.OS Automated Driving, Powernet & E/E Integration
LinkedIn

Georges Massing is the Vice President Digital Vehicle & Mobility at Daimler AG. He joined Daimler as Director User Interaction & Software for the Mercedes-Benz vehicle portfolio in 2016. Previously, he was responsible for Driver Experience, mechatronic controls and interior light for BMW in Munich and held various management positions in areas such as gesture and eye control, driver assistance systems, EV / hybrid vehicles and lighting systems at Magna. Georges Massing holds a graduate degree in aerospace engineering from Technical University of Berlin.

Bosch
Member of the Board of Management
Markus
Heyn
Bosch
Member of the Board of Management
LinkedIn

Dr. Markus Heyn has been a member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH since April 2015. Since January 2022, he has been chairman of the Mobility Solutions business sector and responsible for all the corporate functions and services relating to that sector, as well as its divisions and subsidiaries. Heyn is also responsible for software development services.

The Autonomous
Chairman
Ricky
Hudi
The Autonomous
Chairman
LinkedIn

With over 32 years of experience in the automotive and technology industry, Ricky Hudi acts as Chairman of The Autonomous. Passionate about innovation and the development of autonomous driving technologies, Ricky is a true pioneer in the mobility sector. After holding various roles at BMW AG and AUDI AG he took over in January 2009 as EVP Development Electrical/Electronic AUDI AG. He also founded his own company “FMT – Future Mobility Technologies” and is leveraging a world-wide network of key players in the autonomous driving industry.

Welcome Address
09:0009:20

Qualcomm
Senior Vice President and General Manager Automotive
Nakul
Duggal
Qualcomm
Senior Vice President and General Manager Automotive
LinkedIn

Nakul Duggal is a Senior Vice President and General Manager Automotive at Qualcomm. He is responsible for Qualcomm’s automotive strategy, semiconductor, software and services portfolio, ecosystem development, program management and customer relationships. His responsibilities include focused development expansion into the digital cockpit, smart transportation and the connected car as well as autonomous driving, oversight over product roadmap and its execution, customer-focused business development, and applications engineering.

NVIDIA
VP of Industry Safety
Riccardo
Mariani
NVIDIA
VP of Industry Safety
LinkedIn

Riccardo Mariani is recognized as an expert in functional safety and integrated circuit reliability. In his current role as VP of Industry Safety at NVIDIA, he is responsible for driving safety alignment across NVIDIA’s automotive and embedded business units. He is in charge of developing cohesive safety strategies, architecture, and products that can be leveraged across NVIDIA’s AI-based hardware and software platforms. Riccardo Mariani is the current first VP of IEEE Computer Society and also is chair of the IEEE Functional Safety Standards Committee.

Volta Trucks
CEO and Board Member
Essa
Al-Saleh
Volta Trucks
CEO and Board Member
LinkedIn

Essa Al-Saleh is Chief Executive Officer of Volta Trucks AB and Volta Trucks Ltd, having joined the company as Chairman of the Board of Directors in September 2020, and taking on the role as CEO in April 2021. Essa joined Volta Trucks from Agility Logistics where he spent 13 years as President and CEO. During that time, Agility grew from a one-country operation with 300 employees and $150m in revenue to a global freight and logistics business in over 100 countries with 18,000 employees and $4bn in revenue.

AEye
Director of Product Management
Indu
Vijayan
AEye
Director of Product Management
LinkedIn

Indu is an experienced product leader who leverages her expertise with automotive systems, software and autonomous driving platforms to build market-leading lidar products that enhance automotive safety. At AEye, she drives the advancement, adoption and integration of AEye’s Adaptive Lidar through collaboration with customers, Tier 1 and cross-functional partners. The founder of Women in Autonomy, Indu is an influential voice and advocate for women in the industry.

Infineon
Chief Marketing Officer
Andreas
Urschitz
Infineon
Chief Marketing Officer
LinkedIn

Andreas Urschitz has been a member of the Management Board and Chief Marketing Officer of Infineon Technologies AG since 2022 (mandated until 31 May 2025). Passionate about innovation, Andreas strongly believes that technical development should not be an end in itself but should make life better, protect the future of humanity and maybe even make the world a safer and more livable place.

Aptiv
Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, and President, Advanced Safety and User Experience
Glen
De Vos
Aptiv
Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, and President, Advanced Safety and User Experience
LinkedIn

Glen De Vos is senior vice president and chief technology officer of Aptiv, a position he has held since March 2017. In this role, Mr. De Vos is responsible for leading the company’s innovation strategies and development of advanced technologies. In addition, Mr. De Vos leads the global engineering organization, which includes more than 18,000 technologists located in 12 major technical centers across the globe. In addition to his current role, Mr. De Vos also served as President, Mobility & Services Group based at Aptiv’s Boston Technology Center.

Carnegie Mellon University
Associate Professor
Phil
Koopman
Carnegie Mellon University
Associate Professor
LinkedIn

Phil Koopman is an internationally recognized expert on autonomous vehicle safety whose work spans over 25 years. Phil has been actively involved with AV policy and standards as well as more general embedded system design and software quality. He was the principal technical contributor to the UL 4600 standard for autonomous system safety issued in 2020. An Associate Professor at the Carnegie Mellon University ECE department, he teaches software skills for mission-critical systems.

Panel I
09:4010:20

Safe architectures: how far can safety by design go?

Mobileye
Senior Vice President of Autonomous Vehicles
Johann
Jungwirth
Mobileye
Senior Vice President of Autonomous Vehicles
LinkedIn

Johann Jungwirth leads Mobileye’s AV group and is responsible for the development and releases of Mobileye's L2+ to L5 AV products, including Mobileye SuperVision, Mobileye Chauffeur and Mobileye Drive. He is also responsible for the global deployment and rollout of Mobileye’s Mobility-as-a-Service business based on self-driving vehicles, including the global MaaS scale-out strategy, vehicle programs, fleets, mobility platform and services. Before joining Mobileye in 2019, he held engineering leadership roles at some of the world’s biggest automakers.

Panel V
16:5017:30

Scene understanding: how do self-driving cars "see the world"?

Infineon
President of the Automotive Division
Peter
Schiefer
Infineon
President of the Automotive Division

Peter Schiefer has been President of the Automotive Division since July 2016. He joined Infineon (Siemens AG until 1999) in 1990. For many years, Peter Schiefer has been responsible for Operations and Business Management in various executive units at Infineon. He has worked closely with all international production sites as well as with global purchasing. He is also the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors in the SIAPM joint venture (SAIC Infineon Automotive Power Modules [Shanghai] Co., Ltd.).

Keynote III
15:5016:10

To be announced soon

StreetDrone
CEO
Mike
Potts
StreetDrone
CEO
LinkedIn

Mike Potts is the Founder and CEO of StreetDrone. A pioneering entrepreneur, innovator, and expert strategic advisor, Mike has more than 15 years of experience in building successful businesses in e-commerce, digital marketing, data analytics, and autonomous technologies. He is driven by his passionate belief that businesses and society generally need access to the benefits of autonomous technology in as short a time frame as possible, and that this can only be achieved by first applying autonomous technology to slow-moving vehicles.

TTTech Group
CEO
Georg
Kopetz
TTTech Group
CEO
LinkedIn

Georg Kopetz is co-founder, CEO and member of the executive board at TTTech. As the company’s Chief Executive Officer, he is responsible for the overall strategy of the corporation, marketing, sales, finance and human resources. He also serves as the President of TTTech’s joint-venture company TTControl in Brixen/Bressanone, Italy. After attending school in Germany, Austria and the US, he studied law at the University of Vienna in Austria and at the Université Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) in France.

Fireside Talk
09:3009:40

NXP Semiconductors
CTO & Executive Vice President
Lars
Reger
NXP Semiconductors
CTO & Executive Vice President
LinkedIn

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.

Keynote II
11:1011:30

To be announced soon

TTTech Auto
CTO
Stefan
Poledna
TTTech Auto
CTO

Dr. Stefan Poledna is the co‐founder of TTTech Group and CTO at TTTech Auto. He is responsible for the technology roadmap, all scientific topics and quality management in both companies. Dr. Stefan Poledna has over 30 years of international industry experience in innovative embedded systems development. He has authored several patents with a focus on safety, communication, and automated driving. He received his Ph.D. degree in computer science with distinction from Vienna University of Technology, where he also lectures on Dependable Computer Systems.

Panel I
09:4010:20

Safe architectures: how far can safety by design go?

UNECE Working Party on Automated, Autonomous and Connected Vehicles
Chairman
Richard
Damm
UNECE Working Party on Automated, Autonomous and Connected Vehicles
Chairman

Richard Damm is President of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, KBA) in Germany. He is also chairman of the UNECE Working Party on Automated, Autonomous and Connected Vehicles in Geneva where the globally effective regulations on automation of vehicles are generated. Before being appointed President of KBA, Mr. Damm served at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in Bonn and Berlin. Richard is an internationally recognized expert in the field of the worldwide harmonization of vehicle regulations.

Panel IV
16:1016:50

Regulation – a bottleneck or a facilitator of autonomous driving?

ETAS GmbH
Chairman of the Board of Management
Christoph
Hartung
ETAS GmbH
Chairman of the Board of Management
LinkedIn

Christoph Hartung took over as chairman of the Board of Management of ETAS GmbH on January 1, 2021. Hartung has been with Bosch since January 2020 and held the role of Executive Vice President of the Connected Mobility Solutions division. He holds an academic degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Science and a Master of Science in Computer and Information Science from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He started his career with various automakers, including Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz.

POSSER SPIETH WOLFERS & PARTNERS (pswp)
Founding Partner
Benedikt
Wolfers
POSSER SPIETH WOLFERS & PARTNERS (pswp)
Founding Partner
LinkedIn

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.

Panel IV
16:1016:50

Regulation – a bottleneck or a facilitator of autonomous driving?

University of South Carolina
Associate Professor
Bryant
Walker Smith
University of South Carolina
Associate Professor
LinkedIn

Bryant Walker Smith is an associate professor in the School of Law and the School of Engineering at the University of South Carolina as well as an affiliate scholar at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. Trained as a lawyer and an engineer, Bryant advises cities, states, countries, and the United Nations on emerging transport technologies. He coauthored the globally influential levels of driving automation, drafted a model law for automated driving, and taught the first legal course dedicated to automated driving (in 2012).

Host and event moderator 
Jennifer Sarah
Boone
Host and event moderator 
LinkedIn

Jennifer has spent her entire adult life on stages, in front of the camera or at the microphone, in Trinidad &Tobago, the UAE and Europe working as a performing artist, presenter and voice over artist. Additionally she studied media management and media journalism and is currently doing her master's in business psychology. Continuously learning and receiving new perspectives is her great passion. In her free time she loves to travel to new places, spend time with friends and family or try out any kind of sport.

Audi AG
Connected Architecture, Energy and Security Lead
Jens
Kötz
Audi AG
Connected Architecture, Energy and Security Lead

Jens Kötz is Head of Development Architecture, Energy, Security and Diagnostic Functions at AUDI AG. With over 24 years of experience in Automotive Industry, he is an expert in cross electronic technologies. With that knowledge he has driven many innovations in the field electronic networking, energy supply, functional safety, diagnostics and cyber security. In addition, Jens Kötz has taken the responsibility for further departments such as connectivity, electrification and high voltage-batteries.

Continental
Head of Product Line High-Performance Computer
Karsten
Michels
Continental
Head of Product Line High-Performance Computer
LinkedIn

Dr. Karsten Michels is Head of Product Line HPC at Continental Automotive. In this role, he is responsible for the High-Performance Computer product portfolio throughout the entire product life cycle. In the last four years, Michels was leading the Research & Advanced Development for the Continental Automotive Group, which includes the product areas of e. g. Automated Driving, Chassis Systems, Brakes, Cockpit High-Performance Computers, and Clusters.

Hexagon
Head of Autonomous Solutions
Bernhard
Mueller-Bessler
Hexagon
Head of Autonomous Solutions
LinkedIn

Bernhard Mueller-Bessler owns about 20 years of autonomous driving and automotive experience. He is one of the earlier inventors of AD technology. He started his career with several world-known autonomous prototypes, co-leading one of the first initiatives to push AD features to a product, running his own company to enforce autonomous operations and smart infrastructure, supporting the semiconductor industry to define the next generation of chips for autonomous driving enablement, and now supporting Hexagon on unleashing the power of virtual testing.

BMW Group
Cooperation Manager Automated Driving
Simon
Fürst
BMW Group
Cooperation Manager Automated Driving
LinkedIn

Simon Fürst is currently Cooperation Manager Automated Driving at BMW Group. Till 2017, he has been responsible for AUTOSAR at BMW Group and in the partnership. He was one of the key authors of the software parts of ISO 26262. Since 2018 he has multiple management roles in the automated driving & driver assistant systems division. From 2020 till 2022, he was convener of the newly started ISO TC22/SC32/WG13 "Safety of automated driving systems.

Panel II
11:3012:10

What are the opportunities & challenges of software-defined vehicles?

VinAl
Deputy CEO
Annie
Lien
VinAl
Deputy CEO
LinkedIn

Annie Lien is Deputy CEO at VinAl. She has 20 cumulative years experience in mobility, autonomous driving R&D with a diverse background in business, product, technical strategy, marketing/PR, governmental affairs, customer focus, user experience/human factors. After working at Audi/VW, Annie spent over 6 years in the startup world of innovative solutions for self-driving cars and robotics automation; advised and consulted entrepreneurs, investors, auto OEMs, suppliers and other entities on autonomous driving.

Changan Automobile
Chief Software Architect
Frank
Han
Changan Automobile
Chief Software Architect

Frank Han is an expert in the field of information and communication technology. He has more than 20 years of experience in the design and development of heavyweight commercial products in the information and communication industry. Currently, he is the chief software architect of Changan Automobile, responsible for the overall technical direction of the company’s software-defined vehicles and leading the design and development of Changan’s new-generation automobile software platform.

Traton Group
Senior Vice President
Håkan
Schildt
Traton Group
Senior Vice President
LinkedIn

Håkan Schildt is recognized as an expert in the field of Autonomous Business Transformation. He has more than 14 years of experience in the areas of connectivity and digitalisation. Håkan joined Scania as a R&D engineer in 2008 and took his first management position in 2011. In 2018 Scania formed a new business area with the task to commercialize the autonomous technology and Håkan was appointed to lead and build the new organisation. In 2021 Håkan joined Traton Group to drive the autonomous business transformation across the Traton Group.

McKinsey
Senior Partner
Andreas
Tschiesner
McKinsey
Senior Partner
LinkedIn

Andreas Tschiesner leads McKinsey’s automotive and assembly work in Europe. He has more than 20 years of consulting experience - several in Japan - and brings in-depth knowledge of all facets of the automotive sector. Andreas serves a variety of automakers, suppliers, engineering companies, and a wide range of machinery organizations. He advises companies on strategic questions and challenges related to technology and innovation, focusing on large-scale performance transformations, end-to-end digitization, and the development of new business models.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
General Manager, Automotive Technology
Marc Solsona
Palomar
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
General Manager, Automotive Technology
LinkedIn

Marc Solsona Palomar is Amazon Web Services’s General Manager of Automotive Technology. He joined AWS Industry Products in 2021 as General Manager for Automotive Technology, based in Seattle. His team is focused on developing new automotive products and solutions, from embedded in-vehicle to cloud, in close partnerships with the leading OEMs and industry technology providers. Over the years, he has held a number of technical positions in industries from enterprise networking, VoIP, wireless, consumer electronics, Smart TVs.

Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology
Coordinator for automated driving
Michael
Nikowitz
Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology
Coordinator for automated driving
LinkedIn

Michael Nikowitz is coordinator for automated driving at the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology. For several years he worked in the automotive industry as a Robotics Engineer as well as a Laser Scientist specializing on ultrashort pulse laser systems. He also worked at the Austrian Association for Advanced Propulsion Systems (A3PS) in the field of alternative drive trains, representing Austria at the International Energy Agency and developing roadmaps for automated driving.

Humanising Autonomy
Co-Founder, CTO
Raunaq
Bose
Humanising Autonomy
Co-Founder, CTO
LinkedIn

Raunaq enjoys the interplay between cutting-edge technology, usability, and commerce. As co-founder and CTO of Humanising Autonomy, he puts this interest to use in defining the technological strategy of the startup, and oversees a world-class team of engineers, scientists, and psychologists to realize the company’s global vision. Raunaq had been working as an engineer since before starting his academic career and has had his work showcased in numerous publications including NewScientist, Forbes, and FastCompany.

PALFINGER
Senior Vice President of Global Function Product Line Management & Engineering
Andreas
Hille
PALFINGER
Senior Vice President of Global Function Product Line Management & Engineering
LinkedIn

Andreas Hille is the Senior Vice President of Global Function Product Line Management & Engineering at PALFINGER. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, he is responsible for implementing the company’s multi-dimensional product and R&D strategy. He applies his passion for innovation to actively shape the future product offering of PALFINGER and drives digitalization within the upgraded R&D structures and methods. Prior to joining PALFINER he headed Roche Diagnostic’s R&D division and held leadership roles at Liebherr Transportation Systems.

Amadeus Capital Partners
Co-founder and Venture Partner
Hermann
Hauser
Amadeus Capital Partners
Co-founder and Venture Partner
LinkedIn

Hermann co-founded Amadeus Capital Partners in 1997. In his long history as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Hermann has founded or co-founded companies in a wide range of technology sectors. These include Acorn Computers (where he helped spin out ARM), Active Book Company, Virata, Net Products, NetChannel and Cambridge Network. He was a founder director of IQ (Bio), IXI Limited, Vocalis, SynGenix, Advanced Displays Limited, acquired by Cambridge Display Technology, Electronic Share Information Limited, E*Trade UK and has supported many others.

Volvo Group Trucks Technology
Global Technology Manager EEA Electrical and Electronics Architecture
Magnus
Liljeqvist
Volvo Group Trucks Technology
Global Technology Manager EEA Electrical and Electronics Architecture
LinkedIn

Magnus Liljeqvist is a Global Technology Manager at Volvo Group within the Base SW and middleware field. He has acquired 15 years of experience in electrical and autonomous systems. He holds an academic degree in Economics and a Master of Science in Engineering and Industrial Management from Linköping University, Sweden.

Elektrobit
Head of Product Group HAD
Jens
Petersohn
Elektrobit
Head of Product Group HAD
LinkedIn

Jens Petersohn is the Head of Product Group HAD in Elektrobit. He has over ten years of expertise in the automotive industry with ADAS topics. In addition to that experience, Jens worked at NASA for two years and at Silicon Graphics Inc./Cray Research Inc. for seven years. Before his appointment at Elektrobit, Jens focused on strategic and technical roadmaps for automated driving technologies on SAE levels 2 to 4 at Continental. Earlier, he was the owner of the product roadmap for the comprehensive environment model.

Agenda

The Autonomous Main Event is held on September 27 from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm CEST
Click on each event to see the detailed description and register for workshops:
Workshop Safety & Sustainability
Workshop Safety of Embedded AI
Workshop Safety & Regulation
Workshop Safety by Validation & Verification
Workshop Spotlight Session

08:00
09:00
10:00
11:00
12:00
13:00
14:00
15:00
16:00
17:00
18:00
19:00
Main Stage
Main Stage
Doors Open for Participants' Check-in
08:00 - 09:00
Networking & Coffee

Welcome Address
09:00 - 09:30

Opening Remarks by Ricky Hudi, Chairman of The Autonomous & Philip Schreiner, Head of The Autonomous

Fireside Talk
09:30 - 10:00

Georg Kopetz, Member of the Executive Board - CEO, TTTech Auto AG
Florian Tursky, State Secretary for Digitalisation, Federal Ministry Republic of Austria
Markus Heyn, Member of the Board of Management, Bosh
Andreas Urschitz, Chief Marketing Officer, Infineon Technologies
Glen De Vos, Senior VP & Chief Technology Officer, Aptiv

Keynote I - Act to Impact
10:00 - 10:30
Markus Heyn - Bosch

Keynote I
10:00 - 10:30
Markus Heyn - Bosch

Transform to perform

Panel I
10:30 - 11:00
The Impact of Autonomous Systems on Urban and Highway Mobility

Autonomous mobility solutions have the power to change the world, promising a significant improvement to people’s lives: safer and quicker transit, more accessible, comfortable, convenient, efficient and environment-friendly ways of transportation. In the future, we will see highly automated vehicles on the highway as well as in urban environments. However, human-driven and automated vehicles are likely to have to share the roads for decades before we shift to a fully automated transport system. There are various visions of where the first autonomous vehicles should be deployed. Some well-known use cases include last-mile deliveries, robo-shuttles & robo-taxis, but also Level 4 highway pilots. Many stakeholders need to work together to make these visions a reality.

Speakers:
Mike Potts, CEO, StreetDrone
Andreas Tschiesner, Senior Partner, McKinsey
​Bernhard Mueller-Bessler, Head of Autonomous Solutions, Hexagon
Christoph Hartung, Chairman of the Board of Management, ETAS GmbH

Keynote II
11:00 - 11:30
Andreas Urschitz - Infineon

Semiconductors shaping autonomous and clean mobility

Panel II
11:30 - 12:15
Rethinking Safety Concepts for Level 4 systems

Level 4 systems are on the horizon. Still, there are a lot of insecurities on how to make sure an L4 system is working safely in the given Operational Design Domains. Different players are looking to find their own solutions to this problem in the industry. But is this approach feasible?

Speakers:
Phil Koopman, Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
Indu Vijayan, Director of Product Management, AEye
Jens Kötz, Connected Architecture, Energy and Security Lead, Audi AG
Stefan Poledna, CTO, TTTech Auto
Peter Schiefer, President of the Automotive Division, Infineon

Networking & Lunch
12:15 - 13:30

Panel III
13:30 - 14:15
Regulation in Autonomous Driving – are we moving fast enough?

Legislation is needed to drive and encourage innovation. Around the world, there are different approaches to regulation and legislation. This makes it hard for companies to roll out innovative technologies in more than one country and make innovation usable to the masses. Technology providers and industry players must be active in defining legislation concerning applicable technologies. Furthermore, when it comes to using autonomous systems in road traffic, human lives are at stake. Regulators and city governments have to keep up to guide a safe development and deployment of autonomous vehicles.

Speakers:
Benedikt Wolfers, Founding Partner, POSSER SPIETH WOLFERS & PARTNERS (pswp)
Richard Damm, Chairman, UNECE Working Party on Automated, Autonomous and Connected Vehicles
Bryant Walker Smith, Associate Professor, University of South Carolina
Michael Nikowitz, Coordinator for automated driving, Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology
Simon Fürst, Cooperation Manager Automated Driving, BMW Group

The Autonomous
14:15 - 14:45
Update from The Autonomous Team

Christoph Schulze, Technology Expert, The Autonomous
Lucas Fryzek, Director of Global Field Application Engineers, CoreAVI
Marcus Obst, Head Of Business Development, BASELABS
Thomas Schneid, Senior Director Software, Partnership & Ecosystem Management, Infineon Technologies
Andreas Lauringer, CEO, Kontrol

Keynote III
14:45 - 15:15
Nakul Duggal - Qualcomm

Snapdragon Ride — an Open Platform Approach to Automated Driving

The automotive industry is at a pivotal point of change. With the rise of electric vehicles, ongoing evolution toward autonomy, and the emergence of software-defined vehicles – the driving experience is being transformed, leading automakers to reimagine modern car architectures and rethink future strategies to meet consumer and societal demands. Smart, cloud-connected software solutions and ADAS systems are making mobility safer, more efficient, and more personalized.

Panel IV
15:15 - 15:45
The Impact of AI on Autonomous Driving – Opportunities and limitations

Autonomous driving is based in large part on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and neural networks. Autonomous vehicles are expected to drive themselves, eliminate accidents and be safer than human-driven cars. This means that cars need to be equipped with sensory and cognitive functions. Humans need to trust autonomous vehicles; they must compare the decisions taken on the road and agree to (at least most) of them. Technologies like in-car driver monitoring, vision and detection systems, and machine ethics build the basis. But will it ever be possible to drive safely through London, Paris or San Francisco in the confusing hustle and bustle of a rush hour while relaxing at the wheel and reading the newspaper?

Speakers:
Jens Petersohn, Head of Product Group HAD, Elektrobit
Riccardo Mariani, VP of Industry Safety, NVIDIA
Georges Massing, Vice President MB.OS Automated Driving, Powernet & E/E Integration, Mercedes-Benz AG
Hermann Hauser, Director, Amadeus Capital Partners
Raunaq Bose, Co-Founder, CTO, Humanising Autonomy

30 Minutes - Networking Break
15:45 - 16:15

Keynote IV
16:15 - 16:45
Glen De Vos - Aptiv

The challenge for full product lifecycle management of the highly automated / autonomous vehicle software platform

Panel V
16:45 - 17:30
Status and potential of data-driven development

Autonomous vehicles produce enormous repositories of operational data that enable the movement of one vehicle to better inform the safe operations of others. Every aspect of automotive development is becoming increasingly reliant on data. We need data to implement autonomous features, especially considering AI developments, trajectory planning, calibration optimization and many more topics. Having just a vast amount of data is not sufficient, though; we need the ability to interpret and understand data to be able to use it accurately. The data-driven development approach is already standard in certain technologies. Is it complementing the autonomous mobility development, or should it be its basis?

Speakers:
Lars Reger, CTO & Executive Vice President, NXP Semiconductors
Karsten Michels, Head of Product Line High-Performance Computer, Continental
Frank Han, Chief Software Architect, Changan Automobile
Johann Jungwirth, Senior Vice President of Autonomous Vehicles, Mobileye
Marc Solsona-Palomar, General Manager, Automotive Technology, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Panel VI
17:30 - 18:15
The race towards trustworthy autonomy – is the trucking industry overtaking passenger cars?

Autonomous trucks have gained notable traction in the last years. In the race to put fully autonomous vehicles on the road, commercial trucks that drive themselves may be even pulling ahead of self-driving cars. Autonomous trucking is gaining momentum as the need to move goods around the world increases and the number of truck drivers decreases. However, not everyone is excited about seeing self-driving trucks in the lane next to them. There are various worries when it comes to the commercialization of fully autonomous trucks, as they disrupt the logistics and trucking industry. Moreover, some of them are already on the roads collecting data, doing their first miles, but also creating entirely new jobs and career paths.

Speakers:
Essa Al-Saleh, CEO and Board Member, Volta Trucks
Håkan Schild, Senior Vice President, Traton Group
Annie Lien, Deputy CEO, VinAl
Andreas Hille, Executive Vice President Land - Product Management and Engineering, PALFINGER Group
Magnus Liljeqvist, Global Technology Manager EEA Electrical and Electronics Architecture, Volvo Group Trucks Technology

Closing
18:15 - 18:30

Mingling & Networking
18:30 - 19:00

Workshop Room 1
Workshop Room 1
Workshop I
10:30 - 12:00
Safety & Sustainability

Mobility is about to become a cleaner, more convenient, and safer experience. Within this workshop, we will discuss the impact of ADAS and autonomous driving on safety and sustainability and ways to measure and compare the safety and sustainability impact.

Speakers:
Johannes Deichmann, Partner, McKinsey & Company
Gianmarco Macaro, Application Engineer, Foretellix
Martin Kellner, Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company


Register here.

Workshop III
16:15 - 17:45
Safety of Embedded AI

In 2022, The Autonomous welcomed Infineon Technologies as Lead on the topic of Safety of Embedded Artificial Intelligence, thus preparing to open up a new Working Group, which aims at creating a common understanding of how to use AI safely for trajectory planning and control. Both planning and control can be enhanced with AI to reduce costs, and increase energy efficiency and passenger comfort.
This workshop invites participants to join the ongoing conversations and discuss potential technical reference solutions.

Speakers
Thomas Schneid, Senior Director Software, Partnership & Ecosystem Management, Infineon Technologies
Jürgen Schäfer, Senior Principal System Architecture and Applications, Infineon Technologies
Florian Hauer, Embedded AI & Autonomous Driving Expert, Infineon Technologies
Eric Richter, Director Technology Innovation, BASELABS
Melanie Werner, Senior Manager Automotive Microcontroller for Autonomous Driving, Infineon Technologies

Register here.

Workshop Room 2
Workshop Room 2
Workshop II
10:30 - 12:00
Safety by Validation & Verification

Safety is one of the defining forces for the development and commissioning of autonomous systems. This workshop seeks to initiate a dialogue on the current methods being employed to achieve functional safety and SOTIF for autonomous systems. Diving deeper, we discuss the use of virtual engineering and how virtual hardware platforms and vehicle models enable verification and validation of the intended functionality.

Speakers:
Tjorben Gross, Team Lead - Automotive Application Engineering, MathWorks
Mohammad Abu-Alqumsan, Technical Marketing Manager, MathWorks
Stefan Thiel, Business Development Manager, Embedded Software and Systems, Synopsys
Mario Torres, CEO, IVEX


Register here.

Workshop IV
16:15 - 17:45
Safety & Regulation

Autonomy brings the car to a new level. Machines have different capabilities for handling traffic situations than humans. Legal frameworks need to be adapted to be safer for humans and automated vehicles. The laws are written for human interpretation, and there is no straightforward way of “teaching” these laws to an autonomous vehicle. While autonomous driving developers are struggling with this, regulatory bodies are also looking for ways to verify autonomous system behaviors on the road.

This workshop provides an overview of the latest regulatory developments in the AV space and presents potential approaches to the above-mentioned challenges.

Speakers:
Andreas Lauringer, CEO, Kontrol
Benedikt Wolfers, Founding Partner, PSWP
Christian Pahlke, Head of Future Vehicle Technologies, Division Mobility, TÜV SÜD


Register here.

Workshop Room 3
Workshop Room 3
Spotlight Session
16:00 - 17:45
Spotlight Session - EU-funded Projects

This workshop will present the state-of-the-art challenges of the latest AV technologies and the Research&Innovation programs that the European Commission has set up to tackle those challenges. Furthermore, the industry’s viewpoint will be used to start an open discussion among participants.

Register here.

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.

Hofburg, Michaelerkuppel, 1010 Vienna
Get directions
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Our partners

Baselabs
CoreAVI
Infineon
TTTech Auto
Hexagon
PSWP
Fraunhofer IESE
ABA Invest Work Film
McKinsey & Company
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Green Hills Software
MathWorks
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Let’s make it an unforgettable event!

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