Q&A: An Interview with Roger Berg, Communications Vice Chair, AECC

Our very own Roger Berg, Communications Vice Chair, AECC and VP of North American Research and Development, DENSO, sat down for an interview ahead of ITS World Congress 2022 in Los Angeles, California, in which he outlined the background of the AECC and the exciting new technology emerging in the Proof of Concept program. The below is a reproduction of that interview.

Tell us a little bit about your mission at AECC. What current project are you most excited about and why?

Connected vehicle services are in everyone’s near future, but to bring them to life will require a much larger data transfer capacity from the vehicles to the edge and cloud than what is available today. The AECC was created to address that issue. We are a group of cross-industry leaders from the automotive, mobile network, edge computing and cloud industries who have come together to tackle the growing data management and transfer challenges presented by our evolving connected vehicle ecosystem. Our mission is to drive the evolution of edge network architectures and computing infrastructures to support high-volume data services for a smart, efficient connected-vehicle future.

We’re particularly excited by the recent growth of our Proof of Concept (PoC) program. This program allows members and non-members to demonstrate how AECC solutions can be executed and utilized in real-world environments to help address expanding data management needs. The AECC PoCs are the visible exhibitions of the work that goes on within the AECC community and represent measurable advances in our mission to further the connected vehicle ecosystem. To learn more, check out our PoC hub and reach out to [email protected] to get involved.

You are known for your network and computing infrastructure. How does this apply to the intelligent transportation sector?

Connected vehicles have the potential to completely change how we travel. With the development of this market comes an array of connected vehicle services, including intelligent driving, high-definition mapping, vehicle-to-cloud cruise assist and much more. The possibilities are enormous. For example, think of cars communicating with sensors built into city streets to learn about upcoming detours or road work. Imagine connected streetlights sharing data on traffic patterns to help navigation systems make smart choices. For these services to work, however, the vehicles must be able to communicate both with other vehicles and with connected infrastructure. This has significant implications for numerous areas of the intelligent transportation sector, including fleet management, intelligent traffic management, V2X communication and beyond. The move toward more connected vehicles is not restricted to just cars – it encompasses the entire ecosystem and in fact depends on technological advances across the transportation sector.

What are AECC’s biggest opportunities in the next 1-2 years?

SBD Automotive predicts that by the year 2025, there will be at least 400 million connected passenger vehicles on the road, which means the potential for numerous high-volume data services competing for space and processing time. This presents a huge opportunity for the automotive, mobile operator and cloud provider communities as they work together to help update our network architectures and infrastructures to meet this demand. We are on the cusp of some very exciting developments in the connected vehicle space, but in order to realize them we must be able to manage the data that makes them possible.

What are you most looking forward to for ITS World Congress 2022 in Los Angeles?  

The AECC is looking forward to sharing the latest on our mission and work with the ITS World Congress audience. We have an exciting panel planned in which we hope to hear from audience members and help address their questions on how we can all work together to manage the impending data challenges in the space. As we emerge from the pandemic, we are also looking forward to meeting and networking with leaders in this space in an in-person forum. ITS World Congress 2022 undoubtedly has much to offer, and we look forward to what is sure to be an exciting and productive event.

What can we expect to learn from your team on-site at #ITSWC2022?

We hope you’ll join us for our panel session, Edge Computing and the Future of Connected Vehicle Services, which is taking place on Tuesday, September 20th at 2pm PT in the Navigator Theater. Moderated by Alex Oyler of SBD Automotive, the panel features AECC members from Denso, Dell and Nexar who will provide an overview of the connected vehicle services ecosystem and discuss the data management and transfer challenges that currently exist in the space. They’ll give updates on AECC’s work to help conquer these data hurdles using an edge computing approach and speak directly to our PoC program. Attendees will see specific examples of the work being done to address existing and impending data challenges and learn how they too can take action to help pave the way for our connected vehicle future.

If you’re interested in learning more about the AECC and potential membership, connect one-on-one with one of our AECC members. We will be taking meetings onsite September 20th and 21st and would love to discuss AECC’s work and the myriad benefits that come with membership. Please fill out the form to schedule a meeting.

 

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