Videos now available from IESF 2016

Here’s one way to measure the success of this year’s IESF in Detroit: record breaking numbers, with over 1,200 attendees to see the likes of Larry Burns, Paul Hansen, Jim Motavalli and Bill Presley. Industry icon and futurist Larry Burns told the crowd that “all the low hanging fruit has been harvested.” But good news followed this rather stark warning. Namely, even though work to deliver on the future of the automobile (yes, right on up to self-driving cars and beyond) won’t be easy from here on out, Burns and many others besides see it as a future that’s nonetheless inevitable given all the likely benefits, including vast improvements in traffic safety.

The 2016 IESF program included numerous industry presentations, breakout tracks on specialist topics, a solutions exposition, product demonstrations and networking events. IESF continues to be unique in the conference landscape in its combined focus on electrical systems design and wire harness engineering in the automotive sector. New to the event this year was a dedicated track on automotive functional safety and ISO26262 topics, also sessions on LED lighting thermal design.

We recorded all of the sessions and are making them available online. Here are some highlights:

• Keynote: Lawrence D. Burns, Ph.D. – Transforming Mobility: The Signal in the Noise

Larry Burns talked about supplying better mobility experiences at a significantly lower cost to consumers and society by combining connected, coordinated, driverless, shared, and tailored vehicles. Individually, each of these building blocks promises incremental improvements over today’s road transportation system. When combined to enhance the mobility experiences of consumers, the improvements are radical, the changes are transformational and the business growth opportunities are significant for the companies that get it right.

• John Ellis, Managing Director, Ellis and Associates – The Zero Dollar Car

In “The Zero Dollar Car,” John Ellis focused on the value of user data and how it can be used to subsidize the cost of a car. He went in depth about how much an individual’s data could be worth each year and how this will help spur the development of future technologies.

• Paul Hansen, Editor, The Hansen Report – Industry Update: Electrical & Electronics 2016 Automotive Industry Trends & Observations

Paul Hansen once again provided his invaluable insights on the global automotive electronics industry. Hansen writes and publishes The Hansen Report on automotive electronics, a newsletter dedicated to researching and identifying technology and business trends in the global automotive electronics industry.

• Bill Presley, Vice President Electrical Engineering, Lear Corporation – CAE Design Validation Testing Trends for Vehicle Systems Development

Bill Presley gave his perspective on the future of automotive products and the utilization of Computer Aided Element Analysis for design validation testing. Previously, the automotive industry has relied on physical product testing , but is now moving towards a new approach in order to support compressed design cycles, added content, and reduction is vehicle size.

• Jim Motavalli, New York Times – Plugging in the Auto Industry: The Challenges and the Opportunities

Jim Motavalli spoke about how tough it will be for automakers to average the  54.5 MPG by 2025. He quipped on some of his reporting experiences, such as driving a Tesla in “Insanity Mode” and “auto-pilot”. He believes EVs and ADAS advancements are a natural path to get to fully autonomous.

Along with these highlights, there were dozens of additional presentations that we filmed that go more in depth on a wide range of automotive design topics. Browse through our extensive video library for 2016 IESF that includes 45 sessions, 8 breakout tracks, and panels – enjoy!

If you could not attend this years IESF because you don’t live in the United States, we have you covered! Additional IESF conferences are scheduled that span many countries from October through December of this year. Below is a table of all the dates and locations of the next IESF conference in your area.