Dominique Bonte, MD at ABI Research joins the judging panel for the AutoSens Awards 2018. We caught up with him to find out more about his acceptance to be on the judging line-up as well as leading a workshop during the AutoSens conference at the Autoworld Museum this September. Our chat with Dominique included learning more about his role at the AutoSens Awards this year, the reason for his holistic attitude towards problem solving, the double challenge for HD Maps in Driverless Vehicles and his search for main trends at AutoSens 2018.
Dominique Bonte, Managing Director, leads ABI Research’s end markets research team which covers intelligent transportation, automotive, smart mobility, smart home, smart healthcare, industrial internet, enterprise, smart cities and retail. Personal focus areas include telematics, connected cars, autonomous vehicles, cybersecurity, in-vehicle infotainment, navigation, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) and cooperative systems, usage-based insurance, fleet management, asset tracking, Mobility as a Service, and Smart Cities.
What are you looking forward to about being involved with the AutoSens Awards this year as one of the judging panel?
As a judge, I’m looking forward to being part of the overall assessment of this year’s entries across the different categories and the wider automotive ecosystem, identifying innovative and game-changing solutions, initiatives and approaches from both established players and start-ups.
Why did you decide to get involved as a judge?
AutoSens is increasingly becoming the main forum for discussing and debating the latest trends and technological advances in automotive sensing and beyond. It’s an honour to be part of the judging team.
What do you hope to see when judging the shortlisted entries?
I hope to see companies achieving product-market fit, matching innovative technologies with new market opportunities and bringing the automotive industry closer to the smart driverless mobility of the future.
Which categories do you expect to be most hotly contested?
Hardware / semiconductor space is definitely one of them with a large number of new entrants having launched LiDAR systems, sensor fusion platforms, and autonomous vehicle platforms. But it is also important to look at R&D, partnerships, and the wider automotive ecosystem in terms of their contribution to the overall mission of driverless mobility. I’m particularly looking for wide ranging, cross-industry collaboration efforts accelerating the adoption of automotive technologies.
Can you tell us more about some of your recent work at ABI Research?
Recent research includes reports on driverless technologies and forecasts, LiDAR, electrification, car sharing and smart mobility, V2X, in-vehicle networking, and OTA.
In which area have you seen the most increase in demand for market research over the past few years?
Within automotive, we have definitely seen a shift from basic telematics/connected car/infotainment services towards ADAS/autonomous vehicles including all underlying technologies such as sensors, in-vehicle networking, AI / machine vision, and V2X. Moreover, many clients want to understand the impact of transformative technologies like driverless vehicles on their company and the industry as a whole in terms of changing business models, value chains and ecosystems. At the same time, we see increasing interest in markets adjacent to automotive, for example smart home, smart cities, and even retail all of which start integrating new forms of mobility and transportation.
Do tell us more about your personal and professional values
As a research company we take our integrity, neutrality and independence very seriously, even if this means disagreeing with existing clients. Our brand stands for a visionary approach to technology market research helping clients making sense of increasingly complex technology lifecycles, value chains, and ecosystems, helping them navigate and take advantage of technology-driven disruption. Personally, I take great pride in an open mindset and an honest / holistic attitude towards problem solving.
You are also running a workshop at AutoSens on HD Maps for Driverless Vehicles and see this area as an important one to realise autonomous driving. What do you think is the biggest opportunity and challenge for mapping at the moment?
Mapping has been a fundamental component since the earliest telematics and navigation solutions almost 20 year ago. It now becomes even more important as a critical enabler of safe autonomous and driverless operation, in turn driving next-generation carsharing and smart mobility. The opportunity for map makers like TomTom and HERE is huge. The main challenge is related to the fundamental disruption in how maps are generated: from dedicated mapping vehicles and manual aggregation to sensor data crowdsourcing and automated map assembly based on AI techniques (self-healing maps). It also represents a shift from static to real-time dynamic maps as well as a shift from proprietary to standards-based approaches. This requires industry wide cooperation on one hand and automotive grade and functional safety compliant quality levels on the other hand. A double challenge.
What are you looking forward to about leading this workshop and being a part of the AutoSens event as a whole?
Direct interaction with workshop attendees to exchange views and opinions. The workshop format is the ideal forum for direct involvement and interactivity while allowing in-depth coverage of a specific topic. For AutoSens as a whole, I will be looking for main trends across presentations and exhibits. Who is moving the needle? Who is solving key issues? Which company is making an impact?
Dominique Bonte, Managing Director, ABI Research will be leading a workshop on “HD Maps for Driverless Vehicles: Technologies, Business Models, and Players” on Tuesday 18 September at AutoSens. Book yourself an AutoSensLEARN ticket to join him.
