AutoSens facilitates an open forum for the most important conversations in autonomous vehicle technologies to be discussed, debated and shared
Building up to its flagship event in Brussels, second in the calendar year, AutoSens announces a 70+ strong line-up of autonomous vehicle experts and scientists featuring on its eagerly anticipated technical conference agenda this September. Themes include the latest LiDAR innovations, sensor fusion, the use of AI and many other important developments.
View agenda for AutoSens in Brussels >>
Brussels is not only the political heart of Europe, it’s also an international travel hub, a city steeped in history, and of course home to the world’s best automotive museum. There are many benefits from hosting the 7th AutoSens conference in such a connected and bustling metropolis, right at the heart of discussions on the future of world economics and technology development, but it’s still the AutoWorld museum that draws the event back year after year. It showcases a prestigious collection of vehicles from the dawn of the automotive era to modern day, as well as seasonal exhibitions displaying specific brands or contemporary themes.
Building autonomous vehicles is challenging
Technology continues to develop apace, and there are still many challenges remaining in autonomous vehicle tech such as image quality, simulation and testing, and ensuring that all systems to be deployed have been validated with enough rigour to ensure safe operation. The required performance levels are much higher than those of human drivers, and ongoing challenges for the industry will remain key themes on the AutoSens agenda.
One particular hurdle to be addressed is establishing a robust bridge between sensing and machine learning to build the most effective perception system. So far the fields of imaging and machine vision have been developing somewhat independently, but AutoSens will fuse the two as sessions at the conference shed light on the practical aspects of building such vision systems, and bring in additional perspectives from both engineering disciplines to increase awareness of how these areas can work together.
Developing a programme that reflects the ever-evolving conversations in autonomous vehicle technologies
Extending the sensor data and optimisation discussions previously had at AutoSens, sensor fusion is becoming an increasingly important topic for conversation. Sensor fusion provides a platform for “uncertainty reduction” allowing more accurate, more complete, and more dependable data required for manufacturers to develop fully autonomous vehicles. Of course, this means sensor fusion will be a key focus of the Brussels agenda, with an academic presentation from Prof. Wilfried Philips, Senior Full Professor at Ghent University on early and cooperative sensor fusion, he will be sharing both the benefits and some practical experiences with the audience.
View agenda for AutoSens in Brussels >>
Lead event sponsor ONSemiconductor are to present a keynote session in the opening plenary; providing an extensive overview of the challenges and requirements for state-of-the-art sensors across all the major sensor modalities.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken the automotive industry by storm to drive the development of level-4 and level-5 autonomous vehicles. The use of AI is therefore becoming increasingly prevalent in all important discussions on the future of AV. The closing plenary will feature an expert panel who will focus on Artificial Intelligence safety and its limitations – the challenges for and of AI. Panellists include Bart Selman, Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University; Therese Cypher-Plissart, Autonomous Driving Researcher at the Alliance Innovation Lab Silicon Valley and Firas Lethaus, Head Deep Learning Expert Center, Volkswagen DATA:LAB Munich.
Attendees will hear from major manufacturers General Motors and Daimler during technical tracks on automated ground truth and maintaining quality in the production process of cameras respectively. New companies taking their place on the agenda in September include Varroc Lighting Systems, Phasya, imec, TriEye and Blickfeld. Expert insight will also come from Robin Jenkin, Principal Image Quality Engineer at NVIDIA on detectivity in automotive camera applications.
With three programme tracks at the event in September, the agenda has the additional capacity for in-depth presentations on the latest LiDAR innovations, and introduces separate sessions on Simulation, Functional Safety, Optics and Sensor Fusion. The agenda continues to address and discuss image quality standards, AI and deep learning challenges, data processing and camera performance in snow, low-light and other corner cases.
Prior to the main 2-day conference, AutoSens also offers its LEARN ticket holders access to a day of in-depth tutorials. With four tutorials to chose from, attendees have the opportunity to enhance their experience at the event by furthering their technical knowledge with our expert tutorial teachers. View the pre-conference tutorials >>
There’s no “I” in team
“The AutoSens agenda is packed with fresh content, and we have some intriguing panel discussions lined up, so I think the most interesting takeaways are likely to come from those. I’m looking forward to listening to the expert presentations, discussion on important topics and to the open conversation that makes AutoSens a unique place to learn and network.” comments Robert Stead, Event Director of AutoSens and Managing Director of organising company Sense Media Group.
He shares his views on the shape of the industry this year, “One of the most interesting changes this year has been the level of public engagement via initiatives such as PAVE. I think there’s a recognition that public support for self-driving technology is so vital to its success, and the industry is taking a more pro-active approach to engaging with and educating the population.
Other important news we’ve heard concerns further strategic alliances. Right at the highest levels, partnerships and joint ventures between the powerhouses in the electronics and automotive sectors reinforce what we’ve been saying at AutoSens since the beginning – collaboration is key. No single industry player will be the winner here and a willingness to work together as an industry is by far the best way to ensure we are deploying the most robust and ultimately, safe technologies.”
