Today's youth is the future. This was confirmed on the Education Day on Friday 31 March, the last day of the Automotive Week 2017. Over 200 national and foreign students gathered on the Automotive Campus in Helmond. These youngsters will help to make tomorrow's world in the area of automotive and smart mobility a reality.

The would-be engineers got a warming-up from Carlo van de Weijer (TU/e and TomTom), who took them on a tour of the world of automotive and smart mobility. That tomorrow's world will look different from today's is a given. ‘But what shape it will take, is something that you will help to determine. Don't be afraid of technological developments, because they cannot be stopped. Exponential technology will keep you moving!’

The students then dispersed. They had the opportunity to attend various mini lectures. The day finished with six inspiring pitches by TU/e students. Among them was the Storm student team that recently made a trip around the world in 80 days with the motorbike they made themselves.

With the Education Day the Automotive Week 2017 came to a close.

Not only cars are developing rapidly; the infrastructure itself is also evolving. the challenge in front of us is to ready our road network for autonomous cars and connected vehicles. this was the subject of the discussion on the automotive campus on thursday 30 march.

The traffic of the future can only be a success if smart cars can communicate with smart infrastructure. Smart traffic lights are increasing in number, floating car data are coming in and there are ever more sensors in and around the road surface. And yet there is a lot more work to be done. The key word is: collaboration.

Caspar de Jonge of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment said: ‘Within three years car manufacturers will introduce one or more self driving cars or connected cars. Our infrastructure must be ready for that. But we must also start working together. No more isolated smart mobility projects. We must collaborate.’

Serge van Dam, high-level adviser with Rijkswaterstaat: ‘Innovation is a must to prevent more accidents, traffic jams and emissions.’ Smart mobility is the way to go. ‘The biggest challenge is the phase in which smart cars must share the road with old-fashioned cars.’ Van Dam believes the key to success is for government and local authorities to work together with private parties.

In the first days of the Automotive Week, discussions centred on the development of in-vehicle intelligent systems and the present infrastructure. But at the end of the day it is all about the end user.

The first speaker was Ilse Harms of Connecting Mobility who discussed Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. A recent study has shown that there is a big gap between what users expect and what the industry means by ADAS. ‘There is still a world to win’.

 TU/e professor Henk Nijmeijer focused on the differences between autonomous driving and cooperative driving. ‘Autonomously driving cars only react to actions by the car in front of it. But this carries a risk of creating phantom traffic jams. Cooperatively driving cars work together with other vehicles and with the infrastructure itself. That makes for far safer driving, fewer traffic jams and fewer emissions.’

 ANWB's Chris Hottetot spoke about a community he intends to set up around Smart Mobility. ‘It is important to connect with the end user.’

Moderator Marco Maréchal shared the results of the national opinion survey Mobility in the future 2030. One of the findings was that the ‘connected car’ is beginning to be an established concept; more so than the self driving car, for the time being.

More collaboration between the traffic industry and the automotive industry was the central theme of day 2 of the Automotive Week. In a world in which we are faced with challenges like urbanisation and digitisation, collaboration is a necessity. By joining forces, we can create new mobility solutions that will determine the shape of things to come. Some 250 professionals gathered on the Automotive Campus in Helmond to debate mobility issues.

Vehicles keep getting smarter, with ever more sensors and cameras. Lane keeping and adaptive cruise control are just the first tentative steps towards self-driving cars. But for self-driving cars to become an everyday reality will require a lot more collaboration, in particular between the automotive industry and the traffic industry.

Maurice Geraets of NXP Netherlands knows the score: NXP is a key player in the development of autonomous driving. ‘Cars have turned into computers on wheels, full of sensors and microchips.’

After the coffee break, Bas van der Zijden, the manager of BMW Group, outlined the future of mobility. ‘BMW has a clear vision when it comes to autonomous driving. We are currently in a key transition phase, in which control of the car is shifting from people to the car itself.’

After the speeches, the conference attendees could sit in on workshops and watch demonstrations. Afterwards, many people took the opportunity to enjoy a drink in the sun and network with colleagues.

Mobility solutions for tomorrow's world. That is the theme of the first day of the Automotive Week 2017. Some 300 professionals gathered on the Automotive Campus to debate mobility issues.

The list of speakers was long and impressive. Among them was Jacob Bangsgaard, CEO of ERTICO (ITS Europe). In his keynote speech he zeroed in on the principle of Mobility as a Service. He is a firm believer in the integration of different forms of transport, which would be available from a mobile device. Bangsgaard therefore predicts a shift in the automotive industry from selling cars to offering mobility solutions.

Carla Bailo of Ohio State University was one of the other speakers. She addressed the ambitions of Columbus, Ohio, in the area of smart mobility. Like Brainport, the region was proclaimed the smartest region of the world, and it has great ambitions in the area of Smart Mobility.

Noord-Brabant Provincial Executive member Christophe van der Maat brought good news: a network of roads between Helmond and Tilburg has been officially designated as a test environment for self-driving cars and other innovative traffic experiments.

At the end of the programme, a bidbook was presented for the organisation of the ITS conference 2019. On behalf of the partners, Helmond mayor Elly Blanksma called it ‘An offer you can’t refuse’.