The Autonomous Main Event 2025

With over 32 years of experience in the automotive and technology industry, Ricky Hudi acts as Chairman of The Autonomous. Passionate about innovation and the development of autonomous driving technologies, Ricky is a true pioneer in the mobility sector. After holding various roles at BMW AG and AUDI AG he took over in January 2009 as EVP Development Electrical/Electronic AUDI AG. He also founded his own company “FMT – Future Mobility Technologies” and is leveraging a world-wide network of key players in the autonomous driving industry.

Shai Shalev is the CTO of Mobileye, leading the development of software and algorithms for advanced driving assist systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving solutions. He is a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he developed the science behind Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS) and Road Experience Management™ (REM™) maps. Known for pioneering research in machine learning, he co-authored "Understanding Machine Learning From Theory to Algorithms." In 2020, he received the Michael Bruno Award for his contributions to computer science.

Nikolai Setzer was born in 1971. He studied Mechanical Engineering & Economies from 1990-1997 in Darmstadt, Germany and Bordeaux, France. He started his career at Continental AG in 1997 and fulfilled different functions before joining the Executive Board in 08/2009 for the Tires Division. Starting 04/2019 he was taking over in the Executive Board the responsibility for Automotive. Since 12/2020 he is the CEO of Continental AG.

Sterling is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Aurora. To date, Sterling has developed and launched several sector-defining products. In the late 2000s, he developed MIT’s Intelligent Co-Pilot, paving the way for broad advances in cooperative control of human-machine systems. At Tesla, he led the design, development, and launch of the Model X, then led the team that delivered the first generations of Tesla Autopilot. In 2017, he co-founded Aurora, which has become the world’s leading independent developer of autonomous vehicle solutions.

Lars Reger is executive vice president and chief technology officer for NXP Semiconductors. He is responsible for managing new business activities, R&D in automotive, industry 4.0, the internet of things (IoT), mobile and connectivity & infrastructure. Prior to joining NXP as CTO of the automotive division in 2008, he was responsible for business development and product management within Continental’s connectivity business unit. In December 2018, Lars was appointed NXP’s CTO and has since then been responsible for the technology portfolio of NXP.

Nils Jaeger is the President of Volvo Autonomous Solutions. Founded in 2020, Volvo Autonomous Solutions is transforming the movement of goods through efficient, sustainable, and safe autonomous transport solutions within selected industry verticals. Prior to joining Volvo Autonomous Solutions, Nils was the President EMEA for Volvo Financial Services. Before that Nils held several positions at John Deere including Vice President of International Finance. He is a graduate of University of Bayreuth.

Philip Koopman is an internationally recognized expert on autonomous vehicle safety whose work spans over 25 years. Phil has been actively involved with AV policy and standards as well as more general embedded system design and software quality. He was the principal technical contributor to the UL 4600 standard for autonomous system safety issued in 2020. An Associate Professor at the Carnegie Mellon University ECE department, he teaches software skills for mission-critical systems.

Mathias Pillin started at ETAS in 1999 as a software developer and later joined Bosch, taking on various roles in software and electronics development, sales, and project management. He served as personal assistant to the Board of Management, then Head of Development and SVP in Car Multimedia. From 2016 to 2019, he was Executive VP for Drivetrain Electrification. In 2020, he became President of Chassis Systems Control, and from 2021 to 2022, President of Cross-Domain Computing Solutions. Since 2023, he has been CTO of Bosch Mobility and a Board Member.

Dr. Janett Fahrenholz, LLM is the Head of the Regulatory Law Department at Volkswagen AG in Germany. Her global responsibilities include risk assessment, case evaluation of complex vehicle regulation matters, and technical standards for Volkswagen’s production and operation. Janett has extensive experience handling Volkswagen’s multi-national litigations related to product liability cases and climate issues. Her team advises on autonomous driving, cybersecurity management systems, and emission regulations.

Dr. Stefan Poledna is the co‐founder of TTTech Group and CTO at TTTech Auto. He is responsible for the technology roadmap, all scientific topics and quality management in both companies. Dr. Stefan Poledna has over 30 years of international industry experience in innovative embedded systems development. He has authored several patents with a focus on safety, communication, and automated driving. He received his Ph.D. degree in computer science with distinction from Vienna University of Technology, where he also lectures on Dependable Computer Systems.

Richard Damm is President of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, KBA) in Germany. He is also chairman of the UNECE Working Party on Automated, Autonomous and Connected Vehicles in Geneva where the globally effective regulations on automation of vehicles are generated. Before being appointed President of KBA, Mr. Damm served at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in Bonn and Berlin. Richard is an internationally recognized expert in the field of the worldwide harmonization of vehicle regulations.

Peter Schaefer is leading the Automotive Segment of Infineon as Executive Vice President and CSO Automotive. Previously, he was Head of the Automotive Microcontroller Business Unit from 2008 to 2021, establishing the foundation to grow Infineon into a broadliner and market leader in automotive MCUs with product families like AURIX and TRAVEO T2G. He has been with Infineon and Infineon associated or predecessor companies since 1995.

Lina heads the Intelligent Systems team at Supernal, overseeing everything from the Simplified Vehicle Concept to a comprehensive autonomy solution and roadmap. Her approach to autonomy revolves around the concept of the Software-Defined Vehicle. Transitioning seamlessly from the technology and automotive sectors to aviation, Lina now navigates the exciting realm of Urban Air Mobility Industry. Her strategic focus lies in addressing challenges within controlled airspace, guided by her visionary perspective on autonomy.

Dr. Dirk Linzmeier, CEO at TTTech Auto brings 20+ years of automotive industry experience. Before joining TTTech Auto, he was CEO of OSRAM Continental, a joint venture between OSRAM GmbH and Continental AG with 1,500 employees. At Bosch, Dirk Linzmeier held executive positions in the development of driver assistance systems and automotive electronics in Germany and China. He began his career as a development engineer in research at DaimlerChrysler, where he earned his doctorate in the field of radar- and infrared-based assistance systems.

Dr. Trent Victor is Director of Safety Research and Best Practices at Waymo. He oversees safety research to support safety evaluations and strategic initiatives; provides his expertise in the areas of collision data analysis, collision causation, injury severity assessments, and naturalistic driving data research and analysis. He coordinates the development of best practices and external industry standard setting groups. Prior to Waymo, Trent was Senior Technical Leader at Volvo, Adjunct Professor in Driver Behavior at Chalmers and at University of Iowa.

Georg Kopetz is co-founder, CEO and member of the executive board at TTTech. As the company’s Chief Executive Officer, he is responsible for the overall strategy of the corporation, marketing, sales, finance and human resources. He also serves as the President of TTTech’s joint-venture company TTControl in Brixen/Bressanone, Italy. After attending school in Germany, Austria and the US, he studied law at the University of Vienna in Austria and at the Université Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) in France.

Michael is a software developer, principal consultant, and Head of Software Defined Vehicles, Europe at Thoughtworks. With extensive experience across various domains and industries, he has been dedicated to the development of in-vehicle software since 2018.

Andrea Bondavalli is a Full Professor of Computer Science at the University of Firenze, previously with the Italian National Research Council in Pisa. His research focuses on Safety Critical Systems, Cyber Physical Systems, Fault tolerance, Machine learning, V&V, Certification, and Quantitative evaluation. He has published over 300 papers and received awards including Doctor Honoris Causa (2019) and IEEE TCHS Outstanding Leadership (2022). He advises the EU, founded Resiltech, and consults in railway and automotive industries.

Benedikt Wolfers is a founding partner of POSSER SPIETH WOLFERS & PARTNERS (pswp), a law firm specialized in national and international regulation for different industries, notably automotive, energy, finance and infrastructure. He has been engaged for many years in the design and approval process for SAE L3 and 4 systems and the development of homologation and road traffic law. He is advising OEMs, semiconductors, tier 1 companies in Europe and the US and has long-standing experience with national and international regulatory bodies and governments.

Currently serving as the Head of Product at Woven by Toyota, Ethan is an experienced product and engineering leader with the aim of delivering a software-first approach to vehicle development. Prior to his current role, he held the position of Chief Product Officer at CARMERA, where he played an important role in shaping product strategy and driving innovation. Formerly, at Amazon, as an Engineering Manager, he managed teams responsible for processing and managing large-scale, worldwide geospatial data.

Anshuman Saxena serves as Vice President of Product Management and Head of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Automated Driving (AD) Products at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Since 2015, Anshuman has led product development for ADAS at Qualcomm Technologies. Under his management, Anshuman oversees and leads strategy for the Snapdragon Ride Platform and Snapdragon Ride Vision stack, helping global automotive companies develop safe, scalable and updateable ADAS and AD solutions.

Christoph Herzig is the Chief Commercial Officer and Board Member at Elektrobit, a global leader in automotive software. He leads global Sales and Marketing, with teams in major automotive hubs. Christoph joined Elektrobit as Head of Product Management, focusing on transformative mobility software. Previously, he led product business at HERE Technologies and held leadership roles at Philips. Christoph holds a master’s degree from the University of Applied Sciences Berlin and has lived in Boston, Eindhoven, Amsterdam, and Singapore.

Fabrizio Ugo Sclesi is an accomplished technology leader with extensive experience in the automotive and mobility sectors. As the CTO of Vay Technology, he drives innovation and oversees the technical direction. His expertise lies in developing cutting-edge systems for teledriving on public streets without safety drivers. Prior to joining Vay, Fabrizio held key roles at P3 North America and P3 Group, where he contributed to the development of autonomous shuttles and provided strategic consulting on autonomous driving for OEMs in Germany and China.

Dr. Maria J. Alonso leads the Autonomous Systems portfolio at the World Economic Forum, spearheading the ongoing work around vehicle autonomy, software-defined vehicles, and advanced air mobility. Throughout the portfolio activities, she collaborates with C-suite and VP-level executives to ensure the responsible development and deployment of these technologies. She holds a Ph.D. in new mobility services from Delft University of Technology, and Masters in Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Munich and the Technical University of Madrid.

Dr. Stefan Oexl brings 15 years of experience in series development at Daimler Trucks. For the past 5 years, he has been instrumental in building and developing simulation, data analytics, and test strategies at Torc. Since November 2023, Dr. Oexl has taken on the responsibility for systems engineering and safety at Torc Europe GmbH.

Vipul, Vice President and General Manager at Honeywell Aerospace Avionics, leads the $2 billion Avionics Gold Business Enterprise. His responsibilities include Integrated Avionics Systems, Military Avionics, Displays, Flight Management Systems, Flight Controls, Surveillance, Weather Radar, Navigation Radios, Communication Radios, Datalink, and BendixKing product lines. Previously, he drove a 50% reduction in development cost and cycle time for the next-generation avionics program.

Scott Dixon is a Principal Software Engineer at Amazon Prime Air, with a 20-year track record in software engineering. As a lead architect, he’s spearheaded the development of safety-critical avionics for autonomous drones, including a Flight Termination System and a safety-critical BSP for Cortex M cores. His expertise extends to designing protocols over CAN communications busses and leading the avionics firmware engineering team.

As Head of The Autonomous, Philip Schreiner is strongly engaged in partnership management, building together with his team a rapidly growing ecosystem around autonomous mobility. In his role, he is also responsible for the overall project implementation, preparing the ground for the various stakeholders to create a common understanding of global safety in autonomous driving.

Thorsten studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Paderborn. He spent 13 years at Hella in the Driver Assistance Systems division, including two years in Detroit. In 2015, he joined CLAAS as Head of System and Software Development for CLAAS E-Systems. Since 2023, he has been the Vice President of SF Sensors and Components at CLAAS, overseeing perception systems for autonomous solutions. Thorsten is also an active member of the AEF Steering Committee, working to improve cross-manufacturer compatibility in agricultural equipment.

Prashant Gulati is the CEO of SDVerse, an automotive software marketplace founded by industry leaders General Motors, Wipro, and Magna to help accelerate the industry’s transition to software-defined vehicles. A seasoned tech executive, Prashant has over two decades of experience in software, AI, and automotive. His visionary leadership is marked by an impressive trajectory of building and scaling innovative businesses where he has led organizations across strategy, fundraising, product, and sales & marketing.

Dr. Max Lemke is the Head of the Internet of Things (IoT) Unit in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. Max leads innovation initiatives on the digital transformation focusing on the smart IoT, data spaces, digital twins and AI. In the context of Europe’s Data and Chips Acts, Max has launched the European Software-defined Vehicle Initiative, facilitating pre-competitive collaboration of European vehicle manufacturers and suppliers across the sector on the Vehicle of the Future.

Jennifer has spent her entire adult life on stages, in front of the camera or at the microphone, in Trinidad &Tobago, the UAE and Europe working as a performing artist, presenter and voice over artist. Additionally she studied media management and media journalism and is currently doing her master's in business psychology. Continuously learning and receiving new perspectives is her great passion. In her free time she loves to travel to new places, spend time with friends and family or try out any kind of sport.