Alberto Pisoni is director of control systems at General Motors Global Propulsion Systems. In his current role, he has global responsibility for diesel control systems for GM applications worldwide and leads a team located in Torino, Italy. Alberto was born in Torino in 1966 and studied electronic engineering at Politecnico di Torino. He started his career in Centro Ricerche FIAT in 1993 and he was part of the team that developed the first diesel common rail system for passenger cars (Alfa Romeo, 1997) and later led controls activities for the FIAT multiair system. Alberto joined General Motors in 2006 as diesel controls chief engineer and was responsible for the introduction of the first diesel in-house control system for GM (D1, 2010). In 2011- 12, he had an international assignment in Detroit, USA where he was responsible for gasoline and automatic transmission controllers. Prior to his current position in 2013-14, he was the manager of the diesel engine advanced team in Torino.

Andreas Middendorf works as a business developer in the Business Development Team of The Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM). He was working as a scientist in the department Environmental and Reliability Engineering of the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM) and of the Technical University Berlin since May 1995. He was responsible for the development and implementation of methods and demonstrators for the estimation of lifetime for electronic appliances. Further on he is investigating technological aspects which combine the electronics design with environmental engineering techniques. This includes environmental assessments through LCA and through other methods, especially for Eco-Design, the evaluation of recycling attributes, the development of databases and software as well as environmental oriented product evaluation. He carried out courses on EcoDesign for electronic companies, holds four patents and has coordinated several cooperative research projects in Germany and Europe. Since 2010 until 2015 he was senior manager for the application automotive and transportation systems and in charge for the System Reliability and Measurement Group at IZM. He studied electrical engineering at the Technical Universities of Aachen and Wuppertal where he specialized on information and communication technologies.

Rinat Asmus studied at the University of Applied Science in Würzburg and holds a master’s degree in mechatronics, robotics, and automation engineering. Rinat started his professional career at BMW in 2011, holding positions as an electronic specialist and software architect until he recently accepted the position of AUTOSAR project lead in October 2016. His current focus is to show the AUTOSAR adaptive platform as an open software standard to enable future automotive embedded market challenges.

Dr. Ignacio Alvarez obtained his M.Sc. in physics (electronics) in 1996, M.Sc. in artificial intelligence in 2001, and a Ph.D. in electrical & electronics engineering in 2001. Since 1998, he has been involved in different professional roles, starting in the energy industries (power electronics) as project manager. In 2002, he jumped in to the electrical & electronics automotive world, joining the applied research team at the European Technological Center of Lear Corp near Barcelona. Within the next 8 years, he was acquiring more responsibilities inside the advanced engineering department at Lear becoming the manager of the applied research department in 2006 with a special focus on body electronics and HEV/ EV power applications. In early 2010, he accepted the challenge proposed by Faurecia to drive the seat electronics department with worldwide responsibilities where he is currently active in the Global Seat Electronics Center of Excellence located in Brieres-Paris Area, in the different field of electronics contented products for seats (from breakthrough innovation, through development, to series production).

Karim Yahia graduated from Arts et Métiers Engineering High School in France. In the first part of his career, he worked in the field of automotive passive safety development. First with Autoliv Company, with the development of airbag and ECU for overseas projects (India, Malaysia, Australia), and then with PSA as a team leader managing the technical policy and the architecture of airbags and seatbelts for all new projects. His main realisation is the development of passenger airbags on the ceiling for Citroen C4 Cactus and development of airbags and seat belts for the Peugeot 308, car of the year 2014. Since 2010, he evolved his career from passive to active safety. Currently, Karim Yahia is a specialist in ADAS and autonomous vehicle regulations for PSA Group. He participates as an OICA member (International Organization of Car manufacturers) to United Nation Working groups for ADAS System.

Josef Stockinger is responsible for ADAS marketing and application, specifically radar-, camera-, and LIDAR- systems. His professional experience at STMicroelectronics for the last 34 years includes marketing & application of ADAS systems; from 2013 includes marketing for emerging and new automotive systems from 2012-2013; marketing of automotive processors & controllers from 2000-2012; marketing of ASICs and microcontrollers from 1995-2000; and microcontroller design and CAD from 1984-1994. He was also employed by Siemens Research Labs from 1979-1984 and Chip Architectures, Chip Design, CAD.

Ashutosh Tomar has been working in various industries within research and development since 1999. His experience varies from telecommunications to defence systems to internet security to automotive electronics. As a keen researcher and inventor for last eight years, he has been part of a JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) research team working as a principal researcher in electrical research. He has worked on various aspects of future cars like connected infotainment, social infotainment, loudspeakers, lightweight electronics, and using consumer’s device to augment car functions. His current area of work within research is looking at low-power and low-weight electronic systems and looking at the merits of consumer-grade technologies in the car. He is a chartered engineer, a mentor, and holds a master’s degree in communications and real-time electronics systems. He is also a member of various engineering societies like ComSoc, AES, IET, IEEE etc.

Harvey Weinberg is the division technologist for the Analog Devices automotive business unit. Over the past several years, he has been working on long time horizon technology identification as it pertains to the automotive industry. Lately, this has been principally LIDAR. His prior roles at ADI have been system application engineering manager for the automotive business unit and before that leader of the applications engineering group for MEMS inertial sensors. He has 8 US patents in technologies varying from ultrasonic airflow measurement, to inertial sensor applications, to LIDAR systems, with 4 other patents pending. He has been at Analog Devices for 20 years. Before Analog Devices, he worked for 12 years as a circuit and systems designer, specialising in process control instrumentation. He holds a bachelor of electrical engineering degree from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

Dr. Albrecht Irion has a degree in technical cybernetics from the University of Stuttgart and the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI. His first position was at Robert Bosch GmbH in the pre-development for car applications, with a focus on knowledge-based systems and fuzzy control. He graduated as a Dr.-Ing. on a control systems topic in the area of anti-log braking systems. He has also had several assignments in function and system development of active safety systems (ABS, ASR, ESP) and driver assistance systems (radar, video, ultrasonic). He is responsible for the system-/SW-development of parking & maneuvering assistance, with a focus on ultrasonic sensors, but also for combined systems e.g. with near range camera.

Jérôme Dern is an engineering graduate from EFREI. He has worked as a researcher in the military field, as a developer of embedded systems, and then as a consultant in software quality for large industrial groups. He is now head of the software quality department within the Valeo Group and Cyber Security Leader. As a software expert, he participates in the definition of new development methods. He is a Valeo Technical Schools and engineering trainer and is a Valeo senior expert. He is also the author of the book, Logiciels embarqués Viser l’excellence dans le développement, published by ENI, which is also available in English  and an augmented edition under the title, Embedded Software - Striving for Excellence in Development.

Robert Hermann has 17 years of professional experience, therein 11 years in the automotive sensor business. He is leading application, concept, and system engineering with locations in Villach, Munich, and Bucharest. Robert held different positions within the sensor arena in the past like project, program, and overall program management. Before joining Infineon in 2006, he was a principal engineer for network management systems. Robert graduated from the University in Graz and holds a Ph.D. in electronics and an MBA in general management.

Richard Dixon is a principal analyst for MEMS and author of more than 50 MEMS-related consulting and market research studies. He is a world-renowned expert on automotive MEMS and magnetic sensors used in safety, powertrain, and body applications. Along with supporting the overall activities of the MEMS and sensors group, his responsibilities include the development of databases that forecast the markets for more than 20 types of silicon-based sensors in more than 100 automotive applications. In addition, he has supported organisations with future scenarios for sensors in cars and has supported many custom projects for companies in the automotive supply chain. In his prior post at WTC, Dixon was a senior MEMS analyst where he led research on physical sensors and was the co-author of the NEXUS Task Force Report for MEMS and Microsystems 2005-2009. He has also led commercialisation and road-mapping activities on European Commission-funded technology projects, including detailed MEMS chip cost analysis studies. Dixon worked previously as a journalist in the compound semiconductor industry and has years of experience as a technology transfer professional at RTI International, where he provided business and market intelligence for early-stage technologies. Dixon graduated from North Kent University with a degree in materials science and earned a doctorate from Surrey University in semi-conductor characterisation. He speaks English and German.

Michael Byberg is business development engineering manager at Sensata covering the EU region and is based in Germany since 2016. He joined Sensata in 2014 following the acquisition of Schrader Electronics and has previously held positions in Asia and North America, particularly supporting legislation driven growth for TPMS. In recent years, he has been focused on aligning market trends and technology with the roadmap of Sensata, particularly in the area of wireless sensing. In total, Michael has 14 years of experience in the automotive industry. He also is currently pursuing an MBA from Munich Business School.

Raul is a serial entrepreneur in mobile robotics & start-up coach, with an extensive 15 year background in both bootstrapped & VC-backed start-up creation and growth. He is an engineer from UPC (Barcelona, Spain) with an MBA from College des Ingénieurs (Paris, France). He’s filed 10 patents and obtained 27 different awards for his engineering and entrepreneur career, among them the MIT Technology Review – Top 10 Innovators Under 35.

Johannes Giessibl is a senior magnetoelastic project manager at Methode Electronics International, located in the greater Munich area in Germany. He has 12 years of experience in engine and gearbox sensor development including extensive testing with different OEMs. He is responsible for an engineering team with more than 10 engineers which are coming from multiple disciplines like physics, electronics, and mechanical engineering. In recent years, he has been in charge of launching the first high volume direct measurement torque sensors in automotive and industrial applications. He has an industrial engineering degree from FH Rosenheim and was always starting in sales positions but ended up being responsible for engineering and R&D of the magnetoelastic sensor technology. In the past, he was the leading developer in Formula ONE on KERS torque sensors, gearbox torque sensors, driveshaft torque sensors and Wheel Gun torque sensing from 2006 till 2012 before he joined Methode Electronics.

Mr. Thomas Mueller began his career in the semiconductor industry in 1995 when he joined the MEMS microsystems group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). In 2000, he joined ams AG working on magneto sensor technology, later heading a sensor interface design group in ams’ automotive business unit. From 2008 to 2014, he was the program manager for automotive full custom ICs (ASICs) at ams. In 2014, he took over the Business Line Mobility Sensors. Being responsible for cross-business line marketing activities in the consumer, automotive, and industrial area in 2016/17, he is now heading the marketing team for the Business Line Position Sensors. Mr. Mueller holds a doctorate degree in physics from ETH Zurich and has several patents in microelectronic technology. Mr. Mueller is a citizen of Germany.

Today Mr. Kolaric works as head of the department for “Functional Materials” at the Fraunhofer- Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, Germany and co-director Fraunhofer Project Center for Electroactive Polymer AIST, Kansai (Japan). After he graduated from the University of Applied Sciences in Esslingen in the field of mechatronics, he earned his first work experience in an automotive environment before joining the Fraunhofer- TEG as a research assistant. In his first years at Fraunhofer, he worked in the field of construction and methodical test planning as well as the execution. In a short time, he qualified for tasks and duties with higher responsibility. In the field of nanoscaled carbon such as CNT and Graphene, Mr. Kolaric has done important pioneering work and opened up this future technology for the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

Johan Begine is an experienced sales manager with a demonstrated history of working in the mechanical and industrial engineering industry. Johan has extensive experience in business planning, sales management, strategic partnerships, international sales, and management. His current role is managing sales for Donaldson’s Integrated Venting Solutions unit across EMEA. He speaks English, Dutch, and French.

Helmuth Ritzer is vice president of Connected Vehicle Services, a new product line within the Automotive Business Unit at HERE Technologies, a position he has held since January 2017. At the core of Connected Vehicle Services is the usage of real-time vehicle sensor data from different OEMs, which HERE is the first to use within various online infotainment, safety, and electric vehicle services on a global scale. After studying computer science at TU Kaiserlautern, Helmuth Ritzer began his career in 1993 in the R&D department at Daimler-Benz AG, where he worked on the development of expert systems and AI. After further positions in sales IT and central IT at Daimler AG, he joined the team responsible for Daimler’s car2go pilot in Ulm in 2008. In his role as CTO of car2go, he was responsible for product development and played a key role in turning car2go into a leading global provider of free-floating car sharing.

Gregor O. Novak founded Bluetechnix, which became one of the most versatile experts in 3D sensing creating platforms for industrial, medical, and automotive applications centred around the Time-of- Flight (ToF) technology. He received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and a doctoral degree in technical sciences both from the Vienna University of Technology in Austria in the years 1997 and 2002, respectively, as well as a master’s degree in engineering management in 2001 from Oakland University in the USA. Since the early days of his career, he has worked on autonomous machines and sensor technologies to enable them to perceive their environment in order to become truly autonomous.