Connectivity is one of the most important drivers of innovation in the car and commercial vehicle business. It enables vehicles to recognise the needs of drivers and provide them with assistance. The technical innovations in this field will bring about further progress in vehicle safety, efficiency, environmental compatibility and comfort. This year’s 65th International Motor Show (IAA) Commercial Vehicles will therefore place special emphasis on developments in the area of connectivity.
CarIT conference
The connected vehicle is a key component of future mobility. For this reason the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) is organising the CarIT conference in co-operation with BITKOM. Several studies provide scientific evidence that connected vehicles are suitable for use in road traffic, and customers also show enormous interest in car IT.
The conference will cover a wide range of topics from car-to-x communication all the way to autonomous driving. Car-to-x communication will lead to further improvements in the driving experience in terms of safety, comfort and infotainment. Connecting cars with the infrastructure will open up many and varied possibilities that will feature at the conference.
Extended traffic management will also help facilitate the traffic flow, because connectivity allows better regulation of traffic and it becomes more fluid. Whereas looking at a mobile telephone or a motoring atlas can endanger other road users in some cases, new apps, infotainment and control options will make the driving experience richer and more varied, while their intuitive integration improves road safety. The challenges of electric mobility and the developments in autonomous driving will also be important topics at the conference.
The high-calibre speakers from industry, politics and business will illuminate these aspects from various perspectives and give the participants a comprehensive insight into the individual mobility of tomorrow.
The conference will take place on 30 September 2014, from 10.30 h to 18.00 h, in the Convention Center on the Hannover trade fair grounds.
Telematics Purchasing Advice
Telematics is a key tool for transport companies to increase efficiency and reduce their costs. Together with the trade portal VerkehrsRundschau, the VDA is holding the symposium “Telematics Purchasing Advice: Finding the Right System”. It will assist entrepreneurs in finding their way around this extensive market.
The host, VerkehrsRundschau editor Serge Voigt, will open the event, after which Prof. Heinz-Leo Dudek from the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University will present a study entitled “What leading systems can do for trailer telematics”. This will be followed by a discussion on telematics devices. Mark Griffith, Sales Manager Germany at Transics, will speak on the topic “Pro industrial PC: everyday haulage requires robust devices that are simple to use”. “Pro consumer device: hauliers like things flexible and inexpensive” will be the title of the presentation by Spedion Partner Bernd Schoob. Dr Lutz Scholten will describe the interplay between the digital tachograph, telematics and the fleet management system, before Matthias Kirch, Head of Legal Requirements and Homologation, Business Segment Tachographs, Telematics & Services at Continental, goes into detail about the EU’s plans for changes relating to digital tachographs.
The symposium will be held on Thursday, 25 September 2014, from 14.00 h to 16.00 h, in Room 15/16 of the Convention Center on the Hannover trade fair grounds.
Telematics Award
By presenting the Telematics Award the IAA will draw attention to the ever increasing importance of this technology. This will be the third time that the media group “Telematik-Markt.de” and the VDA jointly present the prize to honour especially innovative and useful telematics applications. With Olaf Lies, Minister for Economics, Labour and Transport of the German state of Lower Saxony as patron, the prize will be awarded in categories including “Fleet telematics”, “Eco telematics”, “Sector telematics for logistics, construction and disposal” and “Traffic telematics”.
After a welcome from VDA Managing Director Dr Kay Lindemann, Olaf Lies will open the award ceremony. A panel discussion will follow on “Pocket telematics – the potentials of smartphones, tablets and on-board computers” with Olaf Lies, Dr Kay Lindemann, Prof. Birgit Wilkes from the Technical University of Applied Sciences, Wildau, AIS Managing Director Andreas Kirchheiner, and TomTom Telematics Managing Director Thomas Schmidt.
The event will take place on Monday, 29 September 2014, from 14.30 h to 16.30 h, in Room 1B of the Convention Center on the Hannover trade fair grounds.
The 65th IAA Commercial Vehicles is organised by the VDA and will run from 25 September to 2 October 2014. Under the slogan “Driving the future” it will present numerous world, European and German premieres along with a large number of specialist events and special shows. Comprehensive information about the exhibition and online registration for the specialist events are available on the new IAA website, at: www.iaa.de. Participation in the specialist events is free of charge for journalists.
