Big things happen when you bring 2,164 automotive engineers together in one place at one time to discuss the future of mobility. And that's what we saw at the inaugural FISITA Mobility Technology Conference and Exhibition (TMCE), which brought together the FISITA World Mobility Summit, the FISITA World Congress, EuroBrake and the FISITA Intelligent Safety Conference Europe (ISCE).
The four events, held in Barcelona in collaboration with the Spanish Society of Automotive Technicians (STA), hosted 2,164 attendees, 103 exhibitors and 393 presentations, 80 technical papers and 12 round tables over three days.
The list of speakers at the FISITA World Congress was truly impressive, with notable figures such as Joan Amigo, CEO of Applus+, Stefan Deix of EUCAR, Hui Zhang of NIO, and Jaclyn McQuaid, President and CEO of GM Europe. For their part, EuroBrake attendees heard from Dr. Panagiota Dilara of DG-GROW of the European Commission, Jarek Grochowicz of Ford, Pierre Garnier of Jaguar Land Rover, and Jan Münchhoff, President of EuroBrake. ISCE delegates were privileged to hear from Michiel van Ratingen, Secretary General of Euro NCAP, along with Pierre Millette of ACEA, Cecilia Sunnevång of Autoliv, and Dominik Schuster, Vice President Vehicle Safety of BMW Group and Chairman of ISCE. The FISITA Global Mobility Summit opened with a captivating speech by Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, and also featured keynote speakers Denis Le Vot, CEO of Dacia; Feng Shen, Executive Vice President of NIO; and Siddhartha Bagri, CEO and founder of Pravaig Dynamics.
After three years in office, Nadine Leclair handed over the FISITA Presidency to Mike Anderson, Vice President of Global Electrification and Battery Systems at General Motors, who in turn welcomed Chang Hwan Kim, Head of Battery and H2 Fuel Cell Development at Hyundai-Kia, as FISITA President-Elect, who will begin his presidency in 2025.
Climate change, sustainability, affordability, road safety... these are all global issues, but they are often best addressed with local solutions, and the need for incremental, application-specific solutions, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, was a predominant theme at FISITA TMCE 2023.
Keynote speeches and panel discussions addressed a variety of topics, including the evolving perception of mobility, the rapid development of propulsion technologies, the impact of electrification on new vehicle R&D, and ideas on how to decarbonize today's vehicle fleet.
They told us about the evolving role of the private vehicle, the automotive industry's transition from sales to service, the rise of the software-defined vehicle, and the yet-to-be-defined role of user data.
High-level negotiations on the Euro 7 standard are already underway and its impact will be felt across the automotive industry, not only in terms of powertrain emissions control, but also in other key areas such as tire wear and brake dust. The sourcing of new materials and life cycle analysis fueled discussions on the potential environmental and business value of circular economy models and the importance of end-of-life vehicle management. Interestingly, while it was assumed that some form of automated driving technology is coming, there was less certainty about what it will look like and when.
And in this complex and challenging context, it is to the automotive engineering community that we turn for competitive products that offer not only safe, sustainable and affordable mobility, but also desirable solutions that delight and excite consumers, whether they are buying products or using them as services.
The halls of the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB) highlighted the value of networking, knowledge sharing, pre-competition problem solving, and open debate and discussion. This event was designed to help the automotive engineering community understand these issues and incorporate that knowledge into their work.
