What were the biggest trends seen at AutoSens Brussels? From hot topics including AI, thermal, windscreen technology, L3/L4 and more – our friends and experts dive into their top discussions, event highlights, and the questions they’ll be taking into 2024.
A highlight for me was the round table discussion about how many megapixels we need, and the ensuing in-depth discussion with the Waymo HW team for the camera setup. The fact that I — as a lonely camera / optics Prof from a small University — get the chance to talk to the world-top-notch people is invaluable, and I mean that quite literally. That is exactly the information that I — with my industry background — want and need to prioritize for my own research.
Another one of my key take-aways was that privately-owned L4 will not happen for a long time, if at all, meaning Robotaxis only, with Lidars. If you buy into this hypothesis that L4 for privately-owned cars will not fly (for a long time) then radar as presented is the L2-ready, proven and improving technology for private-ownership cars.
Camera-only will not be good enough for an even longer time (if at all), because we’d need a computational performance equivalent to what our minds are doing in post-processing of the sensory input – which is just unfathomably incredible.
Dr. Alex Braun
Professor
University of Applied Sciences, Düsseldorf
It was an emotional farewell to AutoWorld for me, having hosted AutoSens there since the inaugural event in 2016. However, this year’s event was arguably the best AutoSens ever so it was a great way to close out this chapter in Brussels.
Agenda highlights for me included our opening interview with ChatGPT, which was a lot of fun to put together with Sara Sargent, and illustrated the language model’s incredible ability to spit out detailed and accurate analyses of the state of the industry, and technology bottlenecks, as well as a few quirky responses we coaxed out of our new AI friend.
Other highlights were having Mercedes-Benz and BMW as exhibitors, showcasing their latest innovations at both ends of the production spectrum – BMW with their connectivity solutions and M-B bringing their S-Class with Level 3 with Drive Pilot. I think it really shows the growing stature of AutoSens to have these commitments.
Finally, after several months of discussions it was really great to finally meet Dr Trent Victor, Director of Safety Research and Best Practices at Waymo and hear his closing Keynote address – it provided some real clarity around how Waymo is assessing their own safety compared to human drivers – it’s not so simple to get an ‘apples for apples’ comparison, I’d highly recommend giving that a watch in the On-Demand platform if you missed it.
One last thing, as we say goodbye to AutoWorld, for now at least, my personal highlight was getting to drive the Testarossa back into the museum after we packed up!
Rob Stead
Managing Director
Sense Media
The AutoSens event was a delight. Learning from industry experts and getting an insight into what to expect in our industry was helpful because this helps us to align and create roadmaps that align with the market forecast. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with AutoSens and I am looking forward to joining AutoSens again in Barcelona 2024!
Beverleen Mashonga
Product & Strategy
Hyundai Mobis
As a (relative) newcomer to Sense Media, seeing my first full AutoSens agenda come to life in Brussels was a thrill! Highlights for me included the introduction of some new topic areas including Cybersecurity, Infrastructure and V2X, Windscreens, Thermal, and the extremely well-attended Market Forces and Horizon Scanning session, which offered key information from TechInsights, Yole Intelligence, S&P Global Mobility, and BMW. All the phones in the air taking pictures made me feel like I was at a concert with the rock stars of ADAS!
I love to get conversations flowing and see the spark of ideas between peers connecting for the first time, and the roundtables really got the creative juices flowing this year. With four fantastic organisations hosting conversations on exciting and relevant topics, it was standing-room only in the Minerva room where we kicked off the conference on Tuesday evening. The atmosphere was buzzing and it was such a fun way to get started for those just joining us, and for those who’d been working hard in the expert tutorials all day, a fun way to transition from the more in-depth learning and focus of the day.
But my favourite part of all is, always, getting to meet our community. I love the feeling of being around people who are passionate about what they do. I had fantastic conversations with delegates, speakers, sponsors and exhibitors alike, from companies such as NVIDIA, Waymo, Mobis, BMW, and many more, as well as many eminent academics, who all inspired me with topic ideas for Detroit next year. There are so many opportunities for us to continue to support this amazing community in different ways, and I’m excited to start planning for our newly co-located conferences in 2024!
Jenny Rust
Senior Content Manager
Sense Media
I sincerely want to thank everyone who sat with us for our AutoVision News LIVE at AutoSens interview series – it means the world to us. That interview series, now a hallmark of AutoSens and InCabin, is a chance for us to talk with some of the leading minds and top thought-leaders in ADAS and autonomous vehicle technology development. At AutoSens Brussels 2023, our interviewees shared insight into the latest automotive trends while also recalling fond stories of their career journey over the years. It was, for us, the most memorable AutoSens yet. We are excited for the co-located events to return to Detroit in 2024, with a new chapter also beginning in Barcelona in 2024.
Carl Anthony
Managing Editor
AutoVision News
