On Wednesday, December 4th Dataspeed hosted SAE International Innovations in Mobility Meetup: AV Test Platforms & Vehicle Cybersecurity at our headquarters in Rochester Hills, MI! SAE has hosted a similar monthly series for over three years in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, however this was the first meetup that took place in Michigan, and we are very happy to have been a part of it. The purpose of the meetups is to highlight new and important technologies, companies, and ideas surrounding ground vehicle engineering.
As guests started to arrive, they were greeted with pizza and local beer to set the casual tone of the event. In addition to a tour around the new office, attendees were encouraged to check out the Dataspeed garage where several Dataspeed vehicles were on display. The meetup featured two presentations: “Car-Hacking & Vehicle Security” by Mark Zachos, the Founder and President of DG Technologies, and “By-Wire Conversion for AV Research Platforms” by Jeff Blackburn, VP of Sales at Dataspeed.
Mark Zachos touched on how vehicle cybersecurity vulnerabilities could impact a vehicle’s safe operation, and how the automotive industry is making vehicle cybersecurity an organizational priority. Overall, Mark stated that vehicle cybersecurity also means learning about vehicle hacking techniques in order to ensure that systems will be reasonably safe under expected real-world conditions. Following Mark’s presentation, Jeff Blackburn highlighted how Dataspeed provides a unique and compatible research and development platform for AV technologies. Jeff explained how integrating Dataspeed’s By-Wire Kit is a key necessity in many companies’ autonomous research development.
After the presentations concluded, attendees were given the opportunity to take a ride in a Dataspeed drive-by-wire enabled vehicle and steer it from the back seat. The demo allowed riders to see first-hand how the technology that was discussed earlier in the night works and what it feels like in real-time. All in all, we want to thank SAE for allowing us to host this event, as well as all of those who attended. We look forward to more meetups in the Metro Detroit area!
