Governtment of Dubai - Organizer | Dubai World Congress For Self-Driving Transaport | Autonomous Vehicle Technology Exhibition
Roads & Transport Authority - Organizer | Dubai Congress For Self-Driving Transaport | Self-Driving Car Conference & Exhibition
Under The Patronage Of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince Of Dubai And Chairman Of The Executive Council
Under The Patronage Of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince Of Dubai And Chairman Of The Executive Council
Agenda 20232023-05-26T11:08:02+00:00

Agenda

September 26th | Conference Day 1 – Tuesday

Tuesday
September 26
08:00

Registration & Networking

 
09:00

Workshop 1 : Vehicle Electrification

Speaker
Frank Menchaca 
President, Sustainable Mobility Solutions
SAE International 
Mike Paras 
Business Development, Product & Strategic Partnerships Manager
Sustainable Mobility Solutions 
SAE International
Robert (Bob) L. Galyen
Senior Strategic Consultant & Advisor Retired Chief Technical Officer of CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Limited)
 
10.00

Q&A with audience

 
10:15

Morning Networking Refreshment Break

 
11:00

OPENING  -  Welcome Address & Self Driving Challenge Awards

 
12:15

Networking Lunch

 
13:15

GLOBAL KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Speaker
Sam Roger ​​​​​​
Test Pilot & Design Lead at Gravity Industries
 
14:00
Panel Discussion

JOURNEY OF SUCCESS: CATALYSING INNOVATION IN SELF-DRIVING TECHNOLOGY

Industry leaders have been tackling the transport challenge faced by global cities.
5 challenge participants
alexander dennis, iauto, brightdriver, kinglong, quadribot

 

Moderated by
Dr. Ismail Zohdy​​​​​​
Expert Self-driving Transport, RTA
 
 
14:45

Networking coffee break

 
15:15

Fireside chat: Honestly let’s talk - AV, AI, Accountability & Ethical dilemmas!

Speaker
Aidan Ali-Sullivan 
Head of State Political Strategy & Senior Manager, State Policy, Waymo
Reuben Sarkar 
CEO, American Centre for Mobility
Moderated By:
Lukas Neckermann
Managing Director, Neckermann Strategic Advisors
 
 
16:00

Sponsor Stage Interview

 
Dr. Ismail Zohdy​​​​​​
Expert Self-driving Transport, RTA
 
16:20

Sponsor Closing Keynote

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#SDC2023

Frank Menchaca

President, Sustainable Mobility Solutions

SAE International

Frank Menchaca is President, Sustainable Mobility Solutions at SAE International, the oldest and largest technical organization for engineering in ground and air transportation. Frank incubated and developed SAE's work in sustainability and has also led the organization's product development, marketing, information publishing, professional learning, events and international business. Frank has a deep background in information products and served as Executive Vice President at Cengage Learning. Frank holds degrees from New York University and Yale University and is a candidate in the Chief Sustainability Officer certification program at MIT. A musician and artist, Frank has released ten records of original music under his own name and in the duo Hourloupe; his visual art practice includes painting and digital media.

Mike Paras

Business Development, Product & Strategic Partnerships Manager Sustainable Mobility Solutions

SAE International

Michael leads Business Development and Partnerships at SAE International in a newly created innovation unit, SAE Sustainable Mobility Solutions.  In this role, Michael develops partnerships across the corporate and academic markets as SAE International creates new technical research products and technical training programs to support SAE’s global stakeholder and member base.  Michael works closely with SAE’s Government Affairs team to support SAE’s work with the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Energy.  Prior to joining SAE International, Michael spent 10 years working in business development and sales in the private sector.   Michael brings unique educational perspective to SAE International as a student of the Liberal Arts, studying English Literature and History at the Pennsylvania State University.

Robert (Bob) L. Galyen

Senior Strategic Consultant & Advisor Retired Chief Technical Officer of CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Limited)

Robert (Bob) L. Galyen, age 68, is recognized as one of the top executives in the battery energy storage world and within science/engineering-based communities. He is a highly sought-after public speaker as a subject matter expert. His positions as CTO of CATL (the world’s largest battery manufacturer), Chairman of SAE International Battery Standards Steering Committee, also an SAE Fellow, Chairman Emeritus and CTO of NAATbatt International, provides him a unique leadership perspective in the global battery industry. His degrees in chemistry and biology, along with decades of engineering experience and executive roles, provides him a unique view in a leadership or consulting role in cross functional technology areas. He has patents, publications and participates on multiple BOD’s and TAB’s. The 48 years’ international work experience has given him a visionary perspective on worldwide business, making him uniquely qualified as a global energy storage and scientific/engineering community thought leader. His manufacturing experience qualifies him as one of the top Lithium-Ion Battery producers (CATL) and Lead Acid Battery producers (Delco Remy Division of GM) in the world. He presently works with over 8 different battery systems in his consulting roles.

Sam Roger

Test Pilot & Design Lead at Gravity Industries

Sam leads the design and realisation of the Jet Suit from concept, to digital models, to 3D printed hardware. He is an expert in metal and polymer 3D printing with extensive experience in 3D printed liquid rocket engines & turbo-pumps, pyrotechnics, UAVs, andfilmmaking. Growing up Sam experimented fabricating his own fireworks, solid fuelled rocket motors, radio controlled aircraft, and homemade camera equipment. Sam designs, builds and test flies with the team at Gravity as they focus on the ‘productisation’ of the Jet Suit.

Dr. Ismail Zohdy

Self-driving Transportation expert at the Roads and transport Authority

Dr. Ismail Zohdy is a smart mobility expert with more than fifteen years of experience collectively between USA, Egypt and United Arab of Emirates, in Intelligent Transportation Systems, Shared Mobility, Future Mobility modeling, Autonomous/Connected Vehicles technology, Electric Mobility and all Smart City initiatives. He is currently an Agile Coach and the Program Manager of Self-Driving Transport strategy at Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Government of Dubai, United Arab of Emirates. His role to manage/oversee technical implementation for smart mobility, electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles roadmap, maintain stakeholder engagement and engage/negotiate with transport technology providers for future mobility deployment in Dubai.

He previously supported many US federal clients, including Federal Highway Administration, US Department of Transportation and Advanced Research Projects Program for US Department of Energy. Dr. Zohdy is an author of 40+ peer-reviewed publications, and book chapters for Autonomous vehicles.

Aidan Ali-Sullivan

Head of State Political Strategy & Senior Manager, State Policy, Waymo

Over the last 15 years, Aidan Ali-Sullivan has worked at the confluence of business, politics, and policy, with a particular focus on the future mobility industry. Aidan currently leads state political strategy throughout the US, and manages state policy and government affairs in the western US for Waymo, an Alphabet Inc. company, ensuring regulatory and legislative environments encourage the growth of autonomous vehicle technologies. Prior to Waymo, Aidan served as the head of state policy at Nuro, leading state-level policy efforts throughout the country and spearheading Nuro’s effort to successfully secure the first autonomous vehicle deployment permit in California state history. Prior to Nuro, Aidan was a Manager of Future Mobility at General Motors in both Dubai, U.A.E and Detroit, Michigan. Aidan has experience in multiple levels of government, working for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs as a Political Officer at multiple Canadian Missions throughout the US, at the time focused on Keystone XL and petroleum advocacy. He began his professional career in the California State Senate as a Capital Fellow. Aidan holds an M.P.P. from the University of Chicago Harris School, M.B.A from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and dual B.A. degrees in Political Science and Urban Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

Reuben Sarkar

CEO, American Centre for Mobility

Prior to joining ACM, Reuben was Chief Product Officer for Forge Nano, a venture-backed start-up focused on commercially scalable, precision nano-coatings for EV batteries and other industrial applications. Formerly, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Transportation for the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), where he oversaw more than $1.8B of R&D investments into the sustainable transportation sector through their Vehicle, Fuel Cell, and Bioenergy Technologies Offices. While at U.S. DOE, he established EERE’s focus on mobility systems, co-chaired the advanced materials workgroup, was executive director of the Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative (CEMI) and established the Energy Materials Network (EMN).

Before joining EERE, Reuben worked at Proterra Inc., a leading manufacturer of electric buses, where he led the development of their 1st generation 35-foot all-electric bus and fast charging station as well as product planning for their 2nd generation 40-foot electric bus that are in transit fleets today. Prior to that, Reuben spent more than a decade at General Motors where he was the lead engineer on the 1st generation electric drive unit for the Chevy Volt.

Reuben is a Senior Fellow at the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, an advisor at the Center for Connected and Automated Transportation (CCAT), and an Operator Advisor at Assembly Ventures. He is also a senior advisor to the Michigan Council on Future Mobility and Electrification and a Board Member of the Zero Emission Transportation Associations Education Fund. He holds both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in chemical engineering, as well as an MBA with high distinction, all from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Lukas Neckermann

Managing Director of Neckermann Strategic Advisors

Lukas is the Managing Director of Neckermann Strategic Advisors.  He has over 20 years of leadership experience in automotive, media, and financial services and has worked at BMW and Allianz Group, and recently served as interim COO of Splyt, a high-growth scale-up.

He is an advisor to investors, as well as scale-up companies across the mobility and urban ecosystems including NEXT Modular Transportation, MSCI Thematic Indexes, StreetDrone.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and Technology Studies from Cornell University, and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business. Lukas has been featured in the Financial Times, Wired, Fast Company, Trends.be, Robotics Tomorrow, Quattroruote, Fleet Management Weekly, Fleet Europe and other magazines and newspapers.

Books written or co-authored by Lukas:

The Mobility Revolution (Matador Business Press 2015)

Corporate Mobility Breakthrough 2020 (collaboration with the CVO 2016 and the Matador Business Press 2017)

Smart Cities, Smart Mobility (collaboration with the CVO 2016 and Matador Business Press 2017)

Being Driven (Matador Business Press 2019)

Dr. Ismail Zohdy

Self-driving Transportation expert at the Roads and transport Authority

Dr. Ismail Zohdy is a smart mobility expert with more than fifteen years of experience collectively between USA, Egypt and United Arab of Emirates, in Intelligent Transportation Systems, Shared Mobility, Future Mobility modeling, Autonomous/Connected Vehicles technology, Electric Mobility and all Smart City initiatives. He is currently an Agile Coach and the Program Manager of Self-Driving Transport strategy at Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Government of Dubai, United Arab of Emirates. His role to manage/oversee technical implementation for smart mobility, electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles roadmap, maintain stakeholder engagement and engage/negotiate with transport technology providers for future mobility deployment in Dubai.

He previously supported many US federal clients, including Federal Highway Administration, US Department of Transportation and Advanced Research Projects Program for US Department of Energy. Dr. Zohdy is an author of 40+ peer-reviewed publications, and book chapters for Autonomous vehicles.

Dr. Steven Shladover

An international expert in self-driving transportation technologies and Chairman of the Challenge Jury in its first and second editions

Dr. Steven Shladover has been researching road vehicle automation systems since 1973, beginning with his masters and doctoral theses at M.I.T. 

He was the Program Manager, Mobility at the PATH Program of the Institute of Transportation Studies of the University of California at Berkeley, where he worked from 1989 until his retirement in November 2017. 

Dr. Shladover is an internationally renowned expert on both technological and policy issues associated with road vehicle automation and he led PATH’s pioneering research on automated highway systems

He chaired the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Intelligent Transportation Systems from 2004-2010, and the TRB Committee on Vehicle-Highway Automation from 2013-2019.

Michael Milford

Specialist and Director of the Robotics Center at the University of Queensland

Michael Milford conducts interdisciplinary research at the boundary between robotics, neuroscience and computer vision and am a multi-award-winning educational entrepreneur.

He has been a long-term international judge for the Dubai World Self-Driving Transport Challenge events (2018–21); a non-executive director on the board of the Qld Motor Trades Association Institute; Automation Technology Lead at Mining; and member of the National Transport Commission’s Automated Vehicle Industry Insights Group.

He has led or co-led industry projects with leading Fortune 100 and multinational companies in the autonomous vehicles space spanning automotive, mining and defense.

He currently holds the positions of Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow, Joint Director of the QUT Centre for Robotics, QUT Professor and am a Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow.

Sherry Colbourne

Executive Director of the Technology and Innovation Development Center for the Ontario Region, Canada

Sherry Colbourne is a Canadian entrepreneur with decades of experience in Ontario’s high-tech sector. Her career has taken her to the far corners of the world in pursuit of building strategic business relationships for the companies she has served. As CEO, Sherry guides the direction and growth of Spark Centre and advocates for an international approach to the development of Durham Region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Sherry is a strong believer that entrepreneurism brings diverse cultures and people together and that the opportunity for Durham Region lies in its roots as an innovative and diverse Region.

Lukas Neckermann

Managing Director of Neckermann Strategic Advisors

Lukas is the Managing Director of Neckermann Strategic Advisors.  He has over 20 years of leadership experience in automotive, media, and financial services and has worked at BMW and Allianz Group, and recently served as interim COO of Splyt, a high-growth scale-up.

He is an advisor to investors, as well as scale-up companies across the mobility and urban ecosystems including NEXT Modular Transportation, MSCI Thematic Indexes, StreetDrone.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and Technology Studies from Cornell University, and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business. Lukas has been featured in the Financial Times, Wired, Fast Company, Trends.be, Robotics Tomorrow, Quattroruote, Fleet Management Weekly, Fleet Europe and other magazines and newspapers.

Books written or co-authored by Lukas:

The Mobility Revolution (Matador Business Press 2015)

Corporate Mobility Breakthrough 2020 (collaboration with the CVO 2016 and the Matador Business Press 2017)

Smart Cities, Smart Mobility (collaboration with the CVO 2016 and Matador Business Press 2017)

Being Driven (Matador Business Press 2019)

Eng. Muammar Khaled Al Katheeri

Chief Office - Engineering and Sustainability, Dubai Integrated Economic Zones

Eng. Muammar joined DSO in April 2006 as the Director of Planning and Construction Management Department, enriching DSO with his wide knowledge and experience in construction and project management.

In 2010, DSOA merged the Planning & Constructions Department with the Operations & Facilities department under one leadership. Following this, Eng. Muammar was appointed as Executive VP of Engineering Management. In 2014 Eng. Muammar was appointed as the chairman of the smart city project committee in DSO.

End of 2018, the Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZ) commenced with establishing the DUBAI COMMERCITY Project, the first and leading e-commerce free zone in the MEASA region. Following to his track record in the fields of leadership, engineering and smart city, Eng. Muammar Al Katheeri was assigned as the Chief Project Officer of DAFZ’s COMMERCITY with the responsibility of managing the project.

Prior to joining DSO, Eng. Muammar served with major real estate companies in the UAE, he was appointed as the Projects and Maintenance Director at Emirates Real Estate Corporation, where he worked on major projects including the Ministries Complex project AUH; the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Labor in Dubai; UAE Embassies in Germany and Australia, and the UAE Consulate in Munich, among other prestigious projects. He also served as a Design Engineer at the Ministry of Public Works in Dubai, and as a Project Design Manager at Etisalat in addition to being a partner at a local design consultancy.

Eng. Muammar holds a Master’s degree of Science in Innovation & Change Management from Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University in Dubai, and a Bachelor degree in Architectural Engineering from Al Ain University, UAE. In 2021, he successfully completed the Dubai Leadership Program from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Center for Leadership Development (Dubai Leaders Batch 1).

Dr. Marko Bjelonic

Founder, Swiss- Mile

Marko Bjelonic (born 1990 in Banja Luka, Yugoslavia) is an enthusiastic roboticist and future entrepreneur. During his doctoral degree at ETH Zurich under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Marco Hutter (ETH Zurich, Prof. Dr. Stelian Coros (ETH Zurich), and Prof. Dr. Sangbae Kim (MIT in Boston), Marko developed optimization-based methods focusing on motion control and planning for wheeled-legged robots over challenging terrain (2017 - 2021), which has more than a million views through prestigious news articles like Reuters, CNN, BBC News, IEEE Spectrum and more. Marko holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from TU Darmstadt, Germany (2010 - 2013, 2013 - 2016). He spent the first year of his Master's degree at the Cybernetics department of NTNU in Trondheim, Norway (2013 - 2014). During his studies, he worked at the Mercedes-AMG GmbH in Affalterbach (Germany), Fraunhofer LBF in Darmstadt (Germany), and most notably at CSIRO in Brisbane (Australia) with Dr. Alberto Elfes and Dr. Navinda Kottege on multi-legged robots. Previous work during his Master's thesis consists of the development of the hexapod robot, Weaver, including its state estimation, perception, autonomy, and control algorithms. In 2020, he managed his family owned business with an annual sales of 350K USD and negotiated a company sale in 2021.

Prof. Venkat N. Krovi

Michelin Endowed Chair of Vehicle Automation in the Departments of Automotive Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University

Prof. Venkat Krovi is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at SUNY Buffalo. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 and joined SUNY Buffalo in 2001. Prof. Krovi directs the Automation, Robotics and Mechatronics (ARMLAB) Laboratory and co-directs the Medical Robotics and Computer-Integrated-Medicine (MRCIM) Laboratory. His research program focuses on the lifecycle treatment of mechanical and mechatronic systems, leveraging mechatronics and computer-aided engineering for implementation/validation. His research has received funding from federal, state, and industrial sources. Prof. Krovi's work increasingly focuses on developing improved design and implementation methodologies for bio-inspired machines/systems. He has served in technical program committees and editorial boards of several IEEE and ASME conferences and is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics. Prof. Krovi has served on several funding agency review panels and chaired the ASME Robotics Technical Committee.