While we wait for widespread self-driving robotaxis, there are quiet yet dramatic advances every year intensifying the race to full autonomy; this is especially visible where global carmakers partner with startups. Join Autotech Council to discover new AV technologies and relevant emerging companies pushing the industry forward. This agenda includes demos, networking, and our Matchmaker Meeting Service option for 2 days of private follow up meetings and curated introductions with speakers, members, and guests working on the next generation of AV.
Silicon Valley, California, April 19, 2022/Meeting Recap/ In our bi-annual meeting on Autonomous Vehicles & self-driving technology the mood was slightly different than prior years: with an equal amount of technology innovations to lead us forward, but with a bit more skepticism that “the end is in sight”. Most of the presenters, and our Analyst Keynote agreed that the most important innovations would be those that can push us forward to full self driving, but who have a useful application TODAY in Level 2-4 autonomous cars. That is, a driver is still the best solution for handling edge cases, but an AI can handle the bulk of driving miles.
We started the day with some conference content, notably the Analyst presentation by Roger Lanctot, Director of the Automotive practice at Strategy Analytics. Roger laid out the current landscape of the autonomous sector, and discussed some key technologies that are progressing, and others that aren’t keeping pace. Then we heard from Nitin Narkhede, GM of Emerging Technologies at Wipro, about the importance of testing & validation of AI driving solutions. Our panel featureD a set of executive women in the partnerships side of the auto industry, on the need for, and best practices in partnering across the auto industry. Christine Moon (President & Co-Founder BlueSpace AI) & Mai Dang Vu (Director - New Business Development, Automotive at Flex) spoke with Liz Kerton, President of the Autotech Council.
As usual, we featured a great set of innovators and startups with Rapid Fire presentations, Q&A, and our productive networking breaks. With COVID at a low point in California, we were able to get a substantial number of people back into the room for in-person networking, which was very productive and gratifying after two years. After the meeting, we followed with our Matchmaker one-on-one meeting tool, setting up a bunch of short, focused meetings.
It was great to get so see so many of our members again, in person. But also a good test of our hybrid meeting plan, going forward, where we are able to invite people from around the world to attend the event in parallel with the local audience. Special thanks to David Nishijima of Nissan and Ekram Mukbil of Nvidia for being our question panel for the presentations.