Business Tools

Learn About Emerging Vehicle Technologies

By Michael Hart

tech
SEMA Vice President of Vehicle Technology John Waraniak will moderate the Quick Talks session on Vehicle Technology.

Recent SEMA research tells us that 79% of today’s automotive CEOs believe advanced vehicle technologies will transform their businesses over the next five years.

Quick Talks—a new forum this year that is the SEMA Show’s version of TED Talks—will include a very fast but deep dive into new vehicle technologies. On Thursday, November 3, at 9:00 a.m., “Experts Talk Vehicle Technology” will give attendees the opportunity to hear from some of the industry’s visionaries about what their businesses will have to do to thrive in the future.

“The people who own Priuses or Leafs or Teslas, they’re going to want to customize too; they want to be in on the fun,” said Rodney Esteban, one of the Quick Talks organizers and a product procurement and social media manager for PriusChat. “Who’s going to sell to these people? That’s going to be our market someday. Retailers need to learn about these new technologies.”

This is one of three Quick Talks that will take place during the SEMA Show. Four experts will discuss four different emerging technologies, leaving room for questions in a session that will be limited to a single hour.

“We want to offer as much information as we can in a very short amount of time,” Esteban said.

John Waraniak, SEMA vice president of vehicle technology, and another organizer of the session, pointed out that “the top trends are fast, smart, cool and connected.” There are plenty of opportunities at the Show to learn about “fast” and “cool,” so “connected and smart” are the focus.

Each of the experts will spend approximately 10 minutes each on four important emerging automotive trends:

  • 3D printing technologies.
  • Electronic stability control (ESC) vehicle controls.
  • Vehicle connectivity (i.e., connected cars).
  • Electric vehicle technologies.

Automakers are already working on these technologies and those in the aftermarket sector who will sell them to consumers in the future need to know about them, too.

“Technology is disruptive by nature,” Waraniak said, “and if you’re not familiar with these technologies, it will eliminate some of the opportunities you may be planning now.”

Reserve your seat today!

For complete information on all the 2016 SEMA Show education tracks, visit SEMA Show Education.