The DVN welcome cocktail-and-dinner event took place yesterday evening in Versailles at the Hotel de France. Most automakers and setmakers were represented at high levels; the event gathered 125 experts from DVN Gold and Platinium member companies. It was an exceptional opportunity for schmoozing and networking amongst our lighting and ADAS community.
This morning, the VISION Congress itself got under way with around 450 experts and managers involved in automotive lighting and driver assistance; it runs until tomorrow evening. Before starting the 35 lectures, Renault Senior VP and Design Chief Laurens Van den Ackers opened the congress with a wonderful keynote speech focused on lighting. He presented the strategy and the organisation of Renault, emphasising the importance of lighting in a car: “Renault is a people-centric brand, focused on the emotional side of light and technology”, he said.
After the 20 first-day lectures, attendees will go to the tracks at Satory to assess 25 production and demonstrator cars’ lights and driver assistance systems on dark (and I hope not stormy) roads. Sessions are being chaired by the eminent VIPs: Professor Khanh, Wolfgang Huhn, Christian Amann, Jean-Philippe Benoist, Vincent Abadie, Laurent Serezat, Hans-Theo Dorissen, and Jean-Marc Blosseville.
I hope you will take full advantage of these exceptional two days and enjoy taking part in this event. Next month we’ll release a DVN Report on the 2014 Vision Congress, presenting and illustrating the main points of the lectures, the night drives, and the technical presentations.
Sincerely yours,
DVN Editor in Chief