Celebrating 10 Years of AVT: Influencing the Future through Advanced Vehicle Technology

Welcome and a Recap of AVTs Vision and Accomplishments

Bryan Reimer, Founder and Co-director AVT, MIT AgeLab

AVT was founded to address a gap we identified through research. Our partners in industry and government shared that there was limited real-world data available to evaluate the effectiveness of technology deployments. Over the past decade, AVT has evolved into a collaborative academic-industry partnership aimed at helping stakeholders develop products and business strategies informed by insights into the real-world use of advanced vehicle technologies. Reflections from our members on AVT’s value proposition, key learnings, and future opportunities underscore a decade of meaningful accomplishments.

Beyond 2025: AI’s Strategic Imperative in Automotive

Mauricio Muñoz, Project Lead and Senior Research Engineer, AI Sweden

This talk looks beyond the hype to examine where the cognitive dissonance around AI is coming from, and why AI adoption in the automotive sector is so complex and difficult. It examines the paradoxes, highlights a practical path forward, and discusses the industry’s critical role in shaping AI’s future, from leveraging proprietary data to focusing on efficiency.

Automated Driving and the Complicated Road Ahead

Pete Bigelow, Director of Technology and Innovation Coverage, Automotive News; Host, Shift Mobility Podcast

Automated-driving technology is once again in vogue. Carmakers and tech companies are making plans to sell more sophisticated driver-assistance systems to customers and sketching visions of personally owned autonomous vehicles. Not so fast. Technical limitations remain. Thorny questions about handoffs remain unanswered. Customer expectations and willingness to pay are unclear. Most importantly, the potential safety benefits remain unknown.

The Near, Mid and Long-term Future of Advanced Vehicle Technologies

Lisa D’Ambrosio, Research Scientist, MIT AgeLab (moderator)
Laura Chace, President and CEO, Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America)
Jon Demerly, Senior Director of Engineering, Qualcomm
Brad Stertz, Director, Audi / VW Group External Affairs; Chair, Partners for AV Education (PAVE)
Anant Thaker, Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President Product, Aptiv

Automotive technology is evolving at a breathtaking pace. Highly automated robots, advanced driver assistance systems, and enhanced safety features are rapidly being integrated into vehicles. Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity are also advancing. This panel will explore how these technologies—both hardware and software—may converge in the coming years, and how the dynamics within the supply chain are shifting, with chip manufacturers and software developers playing increasingly vital roles.

A Path Toward a Sustainable Mobility System

Ryan Harty, Division Lead Energy Solution Business Development, Honda

Honda’s Triple Action to Zero environmental sustainability direction is at the core of the company’s Second Founding. This talk will share insights and experiences from efforts across the value chain to achieve Zero CO2 emissions from products, Zero CO2 emissions from suppliers, logistics, manufacturing, and dealers, and Zero impact through use of recycled and sustainably sourced materials.

Advanced Vehicle Technology & Collision Repair

Alea Mehler, AVT Operations Manager, MIT AgeLab (moderator)
Richard Billyeald, Chief Research & Operations Officer, Thatcham Research
Hami Ebrahimi, Chief Commercial Officer, Caliber Collision
Mike Nelson, Founder, Nelson Law

Advancements in sensors, materials, and vehicle design have transformed collision repair centers into sophisticated technical hubs responsible for re-engineering, re-fabricating, and re-calibrating vehicle components and systems. This panel will examine how advanced vehicle technologies impact the frequency and severity of collisions, the technological evolution of collision repair, and the new cost and technical challenges these innovations pose for consumers.

Aviation Safety: Lessons Learned about What Works and Why (or Why Not)

Kathy Abbott, Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor for Flight Deck Human Factors, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

Aviation is very safe, and this presentation addresses some of the lessons learned on what makes it safety. A key over-riding theme is the importance of a culture of safety. In aviation, not just for individual organizations but across the aviation community. Continuous learning, information sharing, regulation, highly trained personnel, and other topics are key to a culture of safety.

The Future of Vehicle Safety Regulation

Bryan Reimer, Founder and Co-director AVT, MIT AgeLab (moderator)
John Bozzella, President and CEO, Alliance for Automotive Innovation
Mark Rosekind, Former Chief Safety Innovation Officer, Zoox; former Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); and former Member, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was established by the Highway Safety Act of 1970 to help reduce deaths, injuries, and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes. In the more than five decades since, vehicle design, development, construction, technology, and powertrains—among many other factors—have significantly transformed roadways. Despite these advancements, traffic fatalities in the U.S. remain high compared to other Western nations. This panel will explore what policies appear to be effective, what may need to change, and how vehicle safety regulation may need to evolve.

A Look to the Future

Bryan Reimer, Founder and Co-director AVT, MIT AgeLab

As a pragmatic possibilist, there are several scenarios that one can envision potentially unfolding in the years ahead. Financially strained consumers increasingly considering the total cost of vehicle ownership when making transportation decisions. Governments resisting the values of globalization, leaving societies to grapple with challenges in areas where they lack expertise or resilience. The automotive industry finding itself struggling to reinvent and compete with the values and efficiencies that Chinese manufacturers bring to the market. At the same time, society may begin to seriously question the usefulness of artificial intelligence and the broader role of technology in helping us become better humans.