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Automated driving in focus at 2021 Symposium on the Future Networked Car

The 2021 Symposium on the Future Networked Car: Moving towards automated driving, 22-25 March online, will examine the latest advances in automated driving, vehicle connectivity and automotive cybersecurity, sharing unique insight into associated implications for technology, business and regulation. Participation is free of charge and open to all. The symposium is convened by ITU, the UN specialized agency for ICTs, and UNECE, the UN commission responsible for global vehicle regulations, this year kindly supported by Gold sponsors Qualcomm and Xperi.

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The 2021 Symposium on the Future Networked Car: Moving towards automated driving, 22-25 March online, will examine the latest advances in automated driving, vehicle connectivity and automotive cybersecurity, sharing unique insight into associated implications for technology, business and regulation. Participation is free of charge and open to all.

The symposium is convened by ITU, the UN specialized agency for ICTs, and UNECE, the UN commission responsible for global vehicle regulations, this year kindly supported by Gold sponsors Qualcomm and Xperi.

2021 will mark the 16th edition of the symposium.

The series of symposia has made clear that the future of mobility is automated, electric and shared, and that new technologies’ success in improving road safety will depend on their success in gaining public trust. 2021’s symposium will discuss the technical, business and regulatory actions required to build this public trust, including the new UNECE regulations on Cybersecurity (UN Regulation 155) and Software Updates (UN Regulation 156).

The symposium will be followed by a meeting of the Collaboration on Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Communication Standards, 26 March online, an open platform to coordinate the development of globally harmonized ITS communication standards. An index of all relevant standards is provided by the ITS communication standards database.

Each day will host a session from 13:00 to 16:00 CET:

Confirmed speakers and moderators include:

  • Jean Todt, President of FIA and UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety
  • Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary, UNECE
  • Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, ITU
  • Nakul Duggal, Senior Vice President & GM, Automotive, Qualcomm Technologies
  • James Kuffner, CEO and Representative Director of Woven Planet Holdings and Chief Digital Officer and Member of the Board of Directors and Operating Officer of Toyota Motor Corporation
  • Guido Gluschke, Managing Director, Institute for Security and Safety, Brandenburg University of Applied Sciences
  • Jyoti Sharma, Lead Connected & Autonomous Vehicle Technical Strategy, Verizon
  • Michelle Avary, Head, Automotive and Autonomous Mobility, World Economic Forum
  • Ian Yarnold, Head, International Vehicle Standards Division, U.K. Department for Transport
  • Richard Damm, President, Federal Motor Transport Authority, Germany
  • T. Russell Shields, President and CEO, RoadDB
  • Roger C. Lanctot, Associate Director, Global Automotive Practice, Strategy Analytics
  • Michael L. Sena, Publisher and Editor, The Dispatcher

How ITU supports automotive innovation

ITU provides common technical platforms to assist the automotive industry in achieving its ICT ambitions.

ITU standards provide specifications for ITS radiocommunications and ITU allocates radiofrequency spectrum in support of ITS. ITU standards address the security of vehicle communications, including over-the-air software updates to connected vehicles. And ITU standards provide methodologies to assess the performance and quality of communications involving vehicles.

ITU is studying a ‘Driving Test’ for the ‘AI drivers’ in control of automated vehicles, building consensus around techniques for the continuous monitoring of AI drivers’ behavioural performance on the road. Learn more about the ITU Focus Group on autonomous and assisted driving.

ITU is also working to enable next-generation vehicle infotainment systems. New ITU standards provide an in-car communication audio specification (ITU P.1150) and highlight the requirements of use cases in areas such as video streaming and intelligent human-machine interfaces (ITU F.749.3). Learn more about the ITU Focus Group on vehicular multimedia.

ITU continues to see key results emerging from its longstanding collaboration with the UNECE Transport Division, which looks to ITU to provide technical standards in support of vehicle regulations. For example, the global regulation on vehicle emergency calls, Accident Emergency Call Systems, references an ITU voice-quality performance standard (ITU P.1140).