25+
Speakers
20+
Exhibitors
4
Sessions
4
Keynotes
On Thursday 11th July 150 Automotive and Electronics researchers, engineers and executives gathered at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, in the heart of the UK automotive industry, to discuss, share and do business. All with a keen focus on how the UK Automotive Electronics industry can best position for global growth.
During the packed day we heard about technology innovation and business insight from 20 speakers as we worked through application case studies, visionary keynotes and interactive panel discussions. Alongside the conference, we engaged with 23 exhibitors from the automotive electronics systems supply chain.
Collaboration in a technology rich era was the theme and we were privileged to showcase some of the best examples of collaborative R&D projects in our domain.
Gunny Dhadyalla, Network Director, AESIN & Andrew Ashby (BAE Systems/AESIN Industry Chair) opened the day and introduced our keynote session host, Angela Johnson, VP at Ricardo Strategic Consulting to host the Keynote session.
Thanks to our sponsors
Keynote Addresses with Session Host, Angela Johnson, Vice President, Ricardo Strategic Consulting
Spencer Salter from JLR took us on a tour from the origins of the universe to circularity to our responsibility towards the planet and finally to the vestibular system’s role in motion sickness particularly relevant to future automated vehicles.
Will Drury of PNDC explained why collaboration is a global necessity especially for NetZERO. The emphasis on our responsibility to manage energy generation and usage in a more electric future.
Roland Meister formerly of 5AI took us on his personal journey from touring Cars to Autonomous Vehicles & the need for having moonshots if we are to compete globally.
Peter Virk of Lotus re-iterated the need to collaborate to enable service differentiation delivering value to customers and importance of developing ecosystems in a more connected and complex mobility future.
The panel emphasized the importance of innovation, research, and investment for creating a legacy in automotive engineering. Climate change is a global challenge, and they likened it to needing a “WHO for the planet.” Ambition is crucial; sometimes, the UK can be overly risk-averse. The younger generation may be more open to embracing change. Collaboration is key, and the UK excels in this area—let’s take it step by step.
UK’s Simulation Excellence for Connected and Automated Systems
In this session chaired by Chris Reeves, Horiba MIRA, we had presentations from Alejandro Trueba also of Horiba MIRA and Matt Daley of rFpro, two of UK’s industry leaders for simulation for CAVs.
Alejandro talked about the critical role of a scenario-based testing approaches and the need for automated closed-loop toolchains to address the test space explosion.
Matt discussed the InnovateUK funded Sim4CAMSens project, pioneering the development of advanced sensor and noise models for high fidelity simulation environments to test CAMs.
This was followed by a panel session where the presenters were joined by Elliot Hemes of IPG Automotive and Tim Edwards of JLR in an engaging discussion on the growing importance of robust system simulation, digital twins, and building on the strong UK capability we have created.
Realising the Software Defined Vehicle (SDV)
Hosted by Steve Waldron, Vector GB Ltd, we had Paul Darnell, 3SK, Brendan Morris, Siemens Digital Industries Software and Julian Day, Green Hills Software position their organisation’s vies on the future opportunities and challenges of the SDV.
We covered topics including the increasing complexity & breadth of system scope versus vertical integration and the impact of software on (redefining) the user experience & safety record.
Cadence Platinum Sponsor
John Heighton from our Platinum Sponsor, Cadence, shared their Intelligent System Design Strategy enabling end-to-end systems from devices to the cloud. Cadence’s computational software solutions offering design excellence, system innovation and pervasive intelligence across a range of industry sectors.
Business Strategy And Security
A fascinating session led by Prof. Siraj Shaikh, Swansea University, picked on the topic of innovation strategy and the complexity of making decisions on how to investment in cybersecurity solutions.
The Swanea University led Discribe-funded collaborative project “Cost-benefit Simulator for Hardware-based Cybersecurity” with Prof. Shahzad Ansari of Cambridge University and Hamza Mudassir of Strategize Inc as core partners took to the stage.
Topics covered online digital twin simulations for ROI analysis for cybersecurity, gamifying the user interface, and implementing a probabilistic, chaotic systems approach for risk and ROI estimation.
The panel discussion touched on how security should be seen as a core piece of the business strategy and how using a simulation approach to understand the opportunity can identify the likelihood between success and failure.
Power Electronics and Control Systems
The UK has established itself as a forerunner in the development of Compound Semiconductor Devices for the use in Power Electronics as the drive towards net zero continues. Successes through project like ESCAPE and SCIENZ are testament to this, making the statement that Electric powertrain is not done yet by any means.
Chaired by Andrew Patterson, Silvaco, the session had presentations from Paolo Bargiacchi of McLaren Applied, Simon Stacey of Cambridge GaN and Ingo Ludtke of CSA-Catapult followed by an interesting discussion on the current state if SiC and the potential of GaN as a contender for automotive applications.
We covered the future of how GaN will contend with SiC technologies, why software and control systems are going to play a critical role in enhancing user experience and the use of artificial neural networks for design automation.
AI, cyber and connected cars
Finally we talked about connectivity, security, and resilience in a future of AI and connected vehicles.
Paul Wooderson from Horiba MIRA chaired the session where Dan Fowler, WMG, shared how the RESAuto is investigating the economics of deploying the ARM Morello board as a brake ECU demonstrator.
David Rogers, Copper Horse, discussed how the TAIBOM project is setting out to answer the question ‘how do we engineer trustworthy AI Systems?’
Maz Ash, National Highways, Cyber Futures, moving from a disconnected strategy to smart motorways, traffic management to connected and autonomous vehicles
Challenge your peers session
Interspersed between the technical sessions was our ‘Challenge Your Peers’ session where we commandeered four corners of the room for the audience to converge around. The session provided an opportunity for our guests to discuss, debate and share their views of where they saw the biggest challenges and opportunities for the automotive electronics industry around our technical themes.
Drinks reception
Andrew Patterson of Silvaco, our drinks sponsor, closed the event by inviting everyone to enjoy the networking reception in the motor museum itself around the fantastic display of vehicles from past to present.
