Ben is head of Regulatory Affairs & Approval for Volkswagen's autonomous driving subsidiary ADMT. He started his career in the automotive industry in 2010. Since 2013, he has been a Program Manager responsible for the global rollout of connected car technology and was assigned to work on Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) and cybersecurity in the U.S. from 2015 to 2020. During this time he was Principal Investigator for the Crash Avoidance Metrics Partners (CAMP) consortium, Vice Chair of the 5G Automotive Alliance's working group Security & Privacy and supported Volkswagen's rollout of V2X technology in Europe and China. Now, he and his team work on assuring compliance to regulatory requirements for type approval and on creating the right environment for autonomous vehicles with policy makers, first responders and standardization organizations.

Richard Damm is President of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt - KBA). He is also Chairman of the UNECE GRVA Working Group on Automated, Autonomous and Connected Vehicles in Geneva, in which the globally applicable regulations on the automation of vehicles are developed. Prior to his appointment as President of the KBA, Mr Damm worked at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in Bonn and Berlin. Mr Damm is an internationally recognised expert in the field of global harmonisation of vehicle regulations. His current focus is on automation, networking and digitalisation at national and international level.

Eashwara Sudharsan Erahan received his M.Sc. degree in Robotics Systems Engineering from RWTH Aachen, Germany, in 2021. He is currently a Research Engineer at Bosch Research. His research interests include vision-based multi-view perception and end-to-end systems for highly automated driving.

Michael Fausten is Senior Vice President for Artificial Intelligence and Systems in the Corporate Research Division of Robert Bosch GmbH. Prior to Bosch Research in March 2021, he was responsible for the development of Automated Driving Systems at Bosch, since 2017 he headed the Bosch-Daimler Collaboration for Urban Autonomous Driving for several years. Between 2001 and 2017, he held various R&D roles within the company for automotive systems engineering in Vehicle Dynamics Management, Accident Avoidance and Mitigation, and Advanced Engineering. Michael started his career at Bosch in 1996 in the Manufacturing Plant of Toluca, Mexico, where he was responsible for special production processes and measurement technology. Michael has studied Physics at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität of Bonn and holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin.

Sr. System Architect and Design Lead, specializing in Sensing, ADAS and Vehicle Connectivity. Leading advanced engineering projects for next-generation Connected ADAS solutions and platform architecture development. Long-term experience in system design for automotive Vision Cameras, LiDAR, RADAR, DMS and V2X, focusing on architecture and product strategies, technology evaluations and pre-development.

Richard Goebelt has been a member of the TÜV Association's management board since the end of 2016. The TÜV Association is committed to technical and digital safety and trust in mobility by providing independent and neutral tests, inspections and certifications. At the end of 2020, he was appointed Chairman of the External Affairs Topic Area of the International Motor Vehicle Inspection Committee (CITA). In the International Alliance for Mobility Testing and Standardization (IAMTS), he is co-lead of the working group “CAV Lifecycle Compliance”.

Christian Gold earned his Ph.D. at the Technische University of Munich in the field of human performance when taking back the driving task from a Level 3 automated vehicle. In 2015 he started his career at the BMW Group as a specialist and later team leader for safety in use with a focus on driving assistance and automated driving. After working as a project manager in the field of passive safety in between, he became head of the group responsible for human factors, field operational tests and effectiveness analysis.

Since 2022, Thomas Helmer holds a full professorship for integral vehicle safety and vehicle technology at Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt. Thomas Helmer received his Diploma (M.Sc. degree) in Engineering Sciences from Technische Universität München (TUM). His doctoral work at Technische Universität Berlin (TUB) in cooperation with BMW Group focused on evaluation of active safety in traffic by means of virtual stochastic simulation. From 2011 to 2016 Dr. Thomas Helmer was project leader at the BMW Group for the development and application of effectiveness analysis of active safety systems, advanced driver assistance systems, and vehicle automation at the vehicle safety department. He was initiator and founding member of the international harmonization initiative P.E.A.R.S. as well as openPASS at the Eclipse Foundation. From 2016 to 2021 he coordinated all BMW predevelopment activities on ADAS, AV, digitalization, and interior. Since 2017, Dr. Thomas Helmer is lecturer for vehicle safety and vehicle automation both at Hochschule München and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.

Martin Herrmann is Senior Global Sales Strategy Manager at IPG Automotive in Frankfurt am Main. After studying Automotive Engineering at Ilmenau Technical University, he started working on engineering projects in the fields of ADAS and vehicle dynamics at IPG Automotive in Karlsruhe in 2014. Since 2016, his focus has been consulting and designing simulation solutions for the simulation-based development and testing of automated driving functions. During his career, he has also been involved in the PEGASUS and SET Level research projects, among others.

Experienced Sr. Research Project Leader in wide aspect of R&D working in industries and research institutions.

Sebastian Klaudt joined fka GmbH in 2019 and is responsible for the development of automated driving functions and driver assistance systems as well as deployment and build-up of test vehicles. After studying automotive engineering at RWTH Aachen University, he joined Volkswagen Group of America in 2013 to develop and test automated driving functions in California. Between 2014 and 2018 we worked as a research assistant at the institute of automotive engineering at RWTH Aachen University focusing his work on the development and testing of automated valet parking systems.

Lukas Leonard Köning completed his Master of Science Automotive Engineering at the Technical University of Munich. He is currently working as a doctoral student at the BMW Group on the topic of “Adaptive Advanced Driver Assistance Functions Based on Traffic Complexity and Driver Engagement”. He has experience in automated valet parking, testing of driver assistance in Germany and abroad, driver-vehicle cooperativity at level 2 and automotive Li-battery aging.

David Petanjek has been responsible for the research and development of test methods and tools for automated vehicles at AVL DiTEST since 2022. Previously, he worked at AVL List in the field of system engineering and verification & validation of automated vehicles. In the International Alliance for Mobility Testing and Standardization (IAMTS) he is co-lead of the working group “CAV Lifecycle Compliance”.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Steven Peters has headed the Department of Automotive Engineering at TU Darmstadt since 2022, focusing his research on automated driving of cars and trucks as well as vehicles with circularity and stable value. Previously, he worked at Mercedes-Benz AG for over six years as Head of AI Research and was part of the Vision EQXX technology program, which created the most efficient Mercedes to date.

Christian Scharnhorst studied Business Administration in Hamburg and brings over 30 years of management experience in the pharmaceutical and automotive industries, with a proven track record of contributing to companies’ success. He began his career as a Product Manager at Beiersdorf AG, where he developed expertise in launching innovative products and driving profitable growth. Since joining Robert Bosch in 2001, Christian has held various Product Management roles across multiple automotive divisions. He served as the Head of Global Corporate Marketing before joining the leadership team of Automated Driving in 2019. In this capacity, he focuses on developing strategies for Highly Automated Driving and establishing partnerships with major Chinese start-ups. Christian has deep insights into the rapidly evolving ecosystem of automated mobility, particularly regarding business models that support the scaling of automated fleets for Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and Transport as a Service (TaaS). His expertise spans the European, Chinese, and U.S. markets, where he has built extensive networks and gained valuable insights into go-to-market strategies and stakeholder decision-making processes. In 2022, he was elected Vice-Chair of the Administration Board of the CCAM (Co-programmed Partnership to establish Cooperative Connected Automated Mobility in Europe), further solidifying his leadership in the field.

Richard Schram started his career as a consultant at TNO Automotive in 2005. From 2010 to 2021 he was Technical Manager and Technical Director at Euro NCAP. He has been back at Euro NCAP as Technical Director since January 2023, after a short period as Director of Product Safety at Arrival.

Udo Steininger earned his diploma in Nuclear Physics in 1986 and began working in nuclear safety research with a nuclear power plant operator. Since 1991, he has been with TÜV SÜD, working in various fields including reactor safety supervision, railroad control and safety technology, and general road vehicle safety. In 2005, he shifted his focus to the safety of automated driving. In 2024, he co-founded TESACO GmbH, where he serves as Managing Director. TESACO's mission is to provide technical and regulatory support for the development and operation of vehicles and systems for connected cooperative automated mobility.

Dr. Taiber is the founder and managing director international operations of IAMTS (International Alliance for Mobility Testing and Standardization, see iamts.org) which is an independent global membership-based non-profit association headquartered in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Taiber’s complete academic training took place at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, where he acquired a masters degree in mechanical engineering and a PhD degree in technical sciences. He joined BMW Group in 1997 in Munich, Germany, to start a career in automotive during which he was tasked in 2005 to move to the US to implement the BMW Information Technology Research Center as an anchor facility of the Automotive Research Campus CUICAR (Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research) in Greenville, South Carolina. He served from 2010 to 2016 as full-time research professor at the automotive engineering faculty of Clemson University and he was subsequently appointed CTO of the International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC) which is an advanced mobility testbed located in close proximity of CUICAR embedded in the property of the largest business park in South Carolina addressing in particular the interaction of connected, automated and electrified vehicles (cars, trucks, buses) with smart road, smart grid and high performance communication network infrastructure. In 2021 Dr. Taiber was appointed managing director of IAMTS and he led successfully the transition towards an independent Austrian-based international association which was completed in 2022. In January 2024 he was appointed as Visiting Professor at the Dyson School of Design Engineering at the Imperial College London, and in July 2024 Advanced Research Fellow for Mobility at the Centre for Sectoral Performance which is a joint initiative between Imperial’s Faculty of Engineering and Imperial College Business School.

Jörg Wagner received his M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, in 2014, and his Dr. rer. nat. in Computer Science from the University of Bonn, Germany, in 2023. He is currently a Lead Research Engineer at Bosch Research. His research interests include end-to-end systems for highly automated driving, deep learning-based motion prediction, and vision-based environment perception.

Moritz Werling is a Principal Engineer at BMW and has been working on the topic of automated driving for 20 years. During his doctorate at KIT and Stanford University, he worked on motion planning and control. The results of his work can be found in numerous series applications, which earned him the VDI Ring of Honor in 2019. He has been a developer for automated driving at BMW AG since 2011. He has also been a lecturer in automated driving at KIT since 2015. Since 2019, his focus has been on processes and methods for the design, verification and validation of safe automated driving systems.

Yuhan Yao is currently the Chief Technology Officer of ADAS Systems Software and Services, in the business unit of the Cross-Domain Computing Solutions Division at Bosch. He holds a doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Southern California in the United States, along with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Peking University in China. Prior to Bosch, Yuhan served as Engineering Director at NIO, where he led the development of advanced AD systems and managed global teams. At Waymo, Dr. Yao directed the architecture of sensing and perception systems for the Waymo Driver, and at Apple, he was instrumental in developing multi-touch sensing technology for the iPhone. He also served as Lead System Architect at Oracle. His expertise spans electro-physics, machine learning, and AI, establishing him as a leader in autonomous driving technologies.

Dr. Dan Zhang is a Senior Expert at Bosch, driving the development of safe and robust AI solutions for real-world applications. With deep expertise in out-of-distribution detection, data auditing, and generative modeling, she is at the forefront of advancing AI reliability. Passionate about bridging the gap between fundamental research and deployment, she is a frequent contributor to top-tier AI conferences and an active member of ELLIS, collaborating closely with academia to shape the future of trustworthy AI.