Eager to experience from the front-row seats which technologies and organizations will be driving the future of mobility?
Join us on a unique Innovation Tour in Silicon Valley to see how transporting people and goods from A to B is changing forever.
The convergence of the Autonomous, Connected, Electrical and Shared megatrends.
We're still cooking up a wonderful program for our tour but the likes of Lyft, Turo, Uber, Scoot, RideCell and Chariot are on our wish list when it comes to opening up the possibilities of shared mobility. To help you experience the trends in autonomous driving from the front seats, we're already looking towards the likes of Drive.ai and we'd love to know how NIO is designing the car of the future. When it comes to first-hand inspiration about electrification, you can expect Tesla, Chargepoint and/or other highly disruptive companies.
Beyond ACES, this program will bring you to some of the most innovative enablers of the automotive industry: insurers like MetroMile or Getaround, or transportation policy pioneers like Emily Castor (Lyft) and Mike Masserman (Lyft). Icebreakers like Mark Platshon (Icebreaker Ventures) share their visions about the future and why Tesla is the new Ford. Academics like Anca Dragan are on the research frontline, working heavily to make humans work with robots (yes, you read that right).
Last, but not least, we'll look into what this changes for humans: consumers and customers. Who will still buy cars and why? Which industries will be affected? What will be the future for car designers, manufacturers or distributors? What will the next mobility platform look like?
Feel free to also let us know your suggestions: which are thé companies that should be part of this roadtrip?
This tour has already taken place but if you want to stay up to date about future mobility programs, leave your credentials below and we'll keep you updated.
Tim Papandreou helped Waymo team commercialize and launch the world's first fully self-driving ride hailing service.
He worked at Google X and is a real expert on transportation as a service and shared, electric and automated smart city transitions and its impacts to streets and real estate.
Arrival in San Francisco.
Sunday - Arrival in San Francisco, Check-in to the hotel, Welcome keynote Rik Vera, Welcome Activity & Dinner.
Rik is a renowned thought-leader, worldwide keynote speaker and author of business bestseller "Managers The Day After Tomorrow". He’s a trusted advisor on the topics of extreme customer centricity, innovation in the digital era, business model change, sales, marketing and leading companies on their journey to their very own Day After Tomorrow.
Monday - Shared Mobility
Companies like Uber and Lyft are the ones who revolutionized the transportation industry with their peer-to-peer business model. The impact it had, spread like a virus. It challenged incumbents, governments and even the average family brunch conversation.
But there is more. Instead of only sharing your car with other people, why not actually share the car itself or your in? Turo is lesser known in Europe but thé largest peer-to-peer car rental platform in the US and Canada, representing a community of more than 2 million owners and travelers.
Shelby is a social entrepreneur who is intrigued by the power of connecting people online to positively impact the offline world. Shelby has been called a pioneer in “Collaborative Consumption” or the “Sharing Economy.” This movement is rapidly changing consumer behaviors in many ways, compelling people to share everything from cars to apartments to lawnmowers, united by the core concepts that access trumps ownership and value unused is waste. As an independent consultant and speaker, Shelby aims to spread these ideas to organizations around the world.
More about ShelbyFounded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, Turo is a car sharing marketplace where travelers can rent any car they want, wherever they want it, from a vibrant community of local car owners. Travelers choose from a totally unique selection of nearby cars, while car owners earn extra money and help fuel their adventures.A pioneer of the sharing economy and travel industry, Turo is a safe, supportive community where the car you rent is part of a story, not a fleet. Whether it’s an F-150 truck to help out on moving day, a Tesla for a luxurious weekend away, or a classic VW bus for a picture-perfect road trip, travelers rent the car and own the adventure.
Michael Masserman is currently the Head of Global Policy & Strategy at Lyft, where he works on initiatives related to mobility as a service, autonomous vehicles, opening global markets, social impact, and smart cities. Michael was previously the Senior Director for Federal & International Government Relations where he built out Lyft's Federal and Policy Partnerships teams.
More about MikeLyft is an on-demand transportation company based in San Francisco, California. It develops, markets and operates the Lyft car transportation mobile app. Launched in June 2012, Lyft operates in approximately 300 U.S. cities, including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles and provides over 1 million rides per day.
Jeff Miller is Head of Automotive Alliances at Uber. Prior to Uber, Miller co-founded (CEO) Wheelz, a peer-to-peer car-sharing company.
His experience includes time spent at Better Place, where he worked with multiple Fortune 50 companies, automotive OEMs, and federal, state, and municipal policymakers to generate charging networks to support the mass adoption of electric vehicles.
Jeff has also worked for the Boston Consulting Group, focusing primarily on Media and Entertainment industry clients. He has also spent considerable time in the field of international development, and specialized in financial services for the poor through variety of organizations, including the United Nations.
Miller holds a Master of Business Administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. He also holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics and Mathematics from Northwestern University.
Uber is evolving the way the world moves. By seamlessly connecting riders to drivers through our apps, they make cities more accessible, opening up more possibilities for riders and more business for drivers. From their founding in 2009 to their launches in over 400+ cities today, Uber's rapidly expanding global presence continues to push the boundaries of mobility.
Tuesday - The autonomous world
Opinions vary whether the self-driving car will know its breakthrough within one, three or five years. Fact is, we’re close. Waymo is refining its technology on the road with two million miles on public roads already.
Nio is redefining what the behavior of the future car customer - or perhaps better say consumer - will look like from a global point of view and General Motors states that it will launch its mass produced self-driving car in 2019.
Fact is, there is no denying that the money going into this technology will yield results in the next five years.
Anca Dragan is not just any researcher working on AI. Her mission? Making robots work closely together with people. Waymo is only one of the many companies who saw the importance of what she's doing. And honestly, the enthusiasm of this speaker will make you want to work with robots. Yes, we are sold.
More about AncaNo autonomous vehicles without artificial intelligence. Anca Dragan works is assistant-professor at UC Berkeley but with her role at Waymo as Chief research scientist, she knows exactly what it takes to build a self-driving car and how long it will take to get them on the roads.
Tim Papandreou helped Waymo team commercialize and launch the world's first fully self-driving ride hailing service.
He worked at Google X and is a real expert on transportation as a service and shared, electric and automated smart city transitions and its impacts to streets and real estate.
The company with which it all started is without any doubt Waymo. Under Google's supervision, the company turned an experiment into a business and its Waymo vans are already transporting people without the assistance of a driver.
I love self-driving cars and I work on them at Udacity. Read my thoughts about self-driving cars atmedium.com/self-driving-cars :-)
More about DavidUdacity is an innovative online university and they were the first to set-up a self-driving car course. Voyage is only one of the companies that came out of Udacity and today the university is starting with a flying car course as well. David is heading both program so if anybody can give us a sneak peak at the future of mobility. He's the one.
Wednesday - Customer centricity & the enablers
Customer Centricity
The autonomous revolution is as significant as the electrification one in the past. People might not own, drive or finance cars anymore. So the question emerges: who is the new car customer? What does this mean for car designers? How can they make cars appealing again for the new generations to come? Which functions does it serve? Why and when will people use which car?
Enablers
Financing, policy and insurance might sound like the most boring topics on the planet but they sure aren't. Meet the enablers: Mark Platshon knows all about the financing of the startups that are now changing our mobility. Trov is only one of the companies that is changing the insurance business and how did a company like Lyft advance in a world where no policies existed?
Mark Platshon is a Partner with Birchmere Ventures and the Senior Investment Advisor to the BMW i-Ventures corporate VC fund.
He is co-founder of Amprius, a Lithium-ion battery company spun out of Stanford and was an early investor in Tesla.
More about MarkMark Platshon is the Managing Director and co-founder of Icebreaker Ventures’ Autonomous World Fund. This new multicorporate venture fund invests in the technologies required to create electric, connected, autonomous and shared mobility and all the new businesses and business models that will be enabled by this “Autonomous World”.
Trov is an on-demand insurance platform that collects details of the things important to a user and protects them.
Matt Brezina co-founded two multi million dollar startups (Xobni & Sincerely), invested in over 70 companies including mobility companies like Cruise Automation (GM), JUMP (uber), Spin scooters, Skip scooters and the cofounder & San Francisco organizer of an international bike safety movement, the @PeopleProtected bike lane. People Protected bike lanes have taken place in over 20 cities
More about MattMatt Brezina co-founded two multi million dollar startups (Xobni & Sincerely), invested in over 70 companies including mobility companies like Cruise Automation (GM), JUMP (uber), Spin scooters, Skip scooters and the cofounder & San Francisco organizer of an international bike safety movement, the @PeopleProtected bike lane. People Protected bike lanes have taken place in over 20 cities
Thursday - Electrification
There is no more stopping the change that is happening right now in the car market. Under the impulse of Tesla and the pressure from governments, almost every car manufacturer has announced to start producing electric cars before or around 2020.
No wonder we are interested in how the future of mobility will look like when electric cars take over. The impact on the industry will be massive and many business will have to change in order to cope.
In case you'd still be in the 'no no, this will never happen - camp', perhaps the following companies might alter your perspective:
Chargepoint is already the world’s largest and most open EV charging network, empowering not only the fleet industry, but also retail and the workplace in general.
We had the opportunity to visit the autonomous car builder drive.ai which is building the engine of the future and guess what? It's not really big, massive and roaring but rather silent, effective and supersmart. Take a look at this video to watch it in action!
Tesla is the company that made electrification "a thing". Starting with the roadster, they went from an expensive electric sports car to an affordable midranger (The Model 3) Today, they are not just a car manufacturer but they might have the largest database of car-collected data worlwide. They now the potholes in your street better then you do and with their electric semi-truck coming up, Tesla is ready to conquer more than just the car market.
ChargePoint is the world's largest network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the US, Europe, Australia. Join the EV revolution for a greener tomorrow!
Friday - Moon Shots
Mobility is more than just cars or airplanes. What to think of Hyperloop, Uber elevate or Boosted Boards? Alternative ways of transportation might look silly or downward impossible but that's what people said about the Wright brothers as well. During our tour we'll visit a couple moon shot companies that are going to change mobility once again.
Beam me up Scotty!
Although the JUMP e-bike system is new, JUMP Bikes has been shaping the future of bike share since 2010. The Uber-owned company brought freedom to bikeshare systems with Social Bicycles, the first ever smart-bikes with integrated GPS, payment systems, and locks that kicked off the dockless revolution. JUMP dropped 15,000 bikes into 40 different markets and clocked over 5 million rides over the past 4 years.
Rik is a renowned thought-leader, worldwide keynote speaker, acclaimed author and trusted advisor on the topics of extreme customer-centricity, disruption, business model change, sales, marketing and making companies ready for the Day After Tomorrow. Having gathered years of C-level experience in sales and marketing related functions, he now inspires companies to develop customer-centric strategies fit for a connected world. Rik has given more than 350 keynote sessions around the world, in more than 15 countries, divided over 3 continents, to international pioneers like Assa Abloy, Cisco, Volvo, Swedbank, Telia, Baloise, Mastercard, Mundipharma, Sogeti and Microsoft.
More about RikOur aim is to end the program around 2 PM on all of our programs. Therefore, we recommend people to schedule flights that leave around 4 - 5 PM or later. At the bottom of this page you can find the recommended flights if you're flying from Belgium to San Francisco.
"It was extremely fascinating! We got an “oh, we’re screwed” moment and got a great insight into the current state of affairs with regards to autonomous cars. I loved the discussion on who the speakers thought their customers would be in the future, who will own the fleets ? Would it be the OEM’s, the Amazons or even a new player?"