Chrysler, Ford and General Motors Leaders to Discuss How Intelligent Transportation Society Products Affect the Auto Industry and Consumers
6 February 1998
Chrysler, Ford and General Motors Leaders to Discuss How Intelligent Transportation Society Products Affect the Auto Industry and Consumers
Big Three Panel to Discuss Intelligent Transportation
DETROIT, Feb. 6 -- When the Intelligent Transportation
Society of America's (ITS America) Eighth Annual Meeting and Exposition gets
underway at Detroit's Cobo Center May 4-7, 1998, a panel of leading research
executives from the Big Three automotive companies will share their thoughts
about how future ITS technology will affect the auto industry and consumers.
The Big Three panel will include: Bernard I. Robertson, vice president,
Engineering Technology & general manager, Jeep/Truck Operations, Chrysler
Corporation; William J. Powers, vice president, Research, Ford Motor Company,
and Kenneth R. Baker, vice president, Global Research & Development
Operations, General Motors Corporation. The panel session takes place on
Tuesday, May 5, and will be moderated by David Cole, director, Office for the
Study of Automotive Transportation Research Center in Ann Arbor.
"With all of the technological advancements, consumers are now purchasing
new automobiles with ITS products such as in-vehicle electronic navigation
systems, Mayday emergency notification systems, intelligent cruise control and
other driving enhancement technologies," said Brent Bair, president of ITS
Michigan. "As these advanced technologies become available to consumers, it
is important that auto industry leaders keep drivers informed about what
opportunities and challenges lie ahead. Our panel of experts will do just
that," Bair said.
The meeting will bring together over 4,000 industry executives, government
officials, and research scientists from around the United States and other
countries to focus on the use of the latest communications, computer, and
electronic technologies in surface transportation.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater will be the keynote
luncheon speaker at the Economic Club of Detroit on Monday, May 4. Other
highlights include the U.S. Department of Transportation Modal Administrators
Panel on Wednesday, May 8, moderated by Mortimer Downey, Deputy U.S. Secretary
of Transportation and a member of the ITS America Board of Directors.
Panelists are Gordon Linton, Federal Transit Administrator; Ricardo
Martinez, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator; Jolene Molitoris,
Federal Railroad Administrator, and Kenneth Wykle, Federal Highway
Administrator.
Other activities during the week-long meeting include over 120 technical
exhibits and more than 70 technical sessions on the latest in research
results, technical innovations, and market developments. There also will be
tours of ITS operational sites throughout Michigan, including the Ambassador
Bridge International Border Crossing, the Detroit People Mover Control
Facility, Ford Scientific Research Laboratories, the Road Commission for
Oakland County's FAST-TRAC Traffic Operations Center, Michigan Intelligent
Transportation System (MITS) Center, and others.
For more Information about the upcoming ITS Eighth Annual Meeting, please
contact Tom Borton at 313-930-0033.
SOURCE Intelligent Transportation Society of America
