LIVONIA, Mich.—The Center for Automotive Research is holding an industry briefing on Feb. 8, focusing on closer collaboration between the U.S. and Canada.
"Cross-Border Collaboration: Driving Regional Competitiveness in Advanced Mobility," will focus on Michigan and Ontario's collective research, product development and engineering power. The event will feature a variety of speakers showing the region's advanced automotive technology. Including:
• Thomas Bloor, who runs global business development at Blackberry's QNX Software Systems. He is responsible for building, developing, and maintaining relationships with automotive OEMs around the world.
• Hideki Hada, who is in charge of technology planning for intelligent transportation systems and active safety systems at Toyota Technical Center. He also serves as the project manager for a government-industry collaboration project to develop infrastructure cooperative collision avoidance technologies.
• Ross McKenzie, managing director of the University of Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research. He is responsible for engaging industry in collaborative research with academia and facilitating government support. Previously he worked in automotive investment with the province of Ontario, where he engaged with OEMs, parts manufacturers and materials suppliers.
• Kirk T. Steudle, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation since 2006, He oversees MDOT's more than $4 billion budget, and is responsible for the construction, maintenance and operation of nearly 10,000 miles of state highways and more than 4,000 state highway bridges at a department with 2,500 employees.
Richard Wallace, CAR Group's director for transportation systems analysis, will moderate the event. The briefing will last from 9 a.m. until noon at the Schoolcraft College VisTaTech Center in Livonia. Registration is $95, for more information visit CAR Group's website.