Spark Minda showcases technology expertise at SAE World Congress 2018: WCX18

Spark Minda Technical Centre (SMIT) submitted a paper named “Delivering Maximal Robustness to Your Automotive ECU on a Frugal Budget” under the leadership of Mr Vishwas Vaidya at the SAE World Congress annual flagship event held from 9th April to 12th April 2018. The event is conducted by SAE every year in April in Cobo Center, Detroit, Michigan, USA and consists of Technical Sessions, Keynote speeches, Seminars, Workshops and Product Exhibition showcased by well-known auto industry players worldwide.

SMIT was the only entry from India in the field of Automotive Electronics this year. The paper was covered under Hardware Design Engineering and Development section and was scrutinized through multiple stringent reviews before being accepted for the presentation. Other papers during the session covered various automotive embedded hardware, software and testing aspects delivered by speakers hailing from Hyundai Corporation, Warwick University UK, Dura Automotive, USA, Denso International America etc. The sessions also included EV/HEV Technology, Intelligence Transportation, Connected Mobility, ADAS, Antenna Design and Electromagnetic engineering apart from others. Besides this the stalls were also showcased from global OEMS like GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota.

During the event in Detroit, the other automotive industry players like Ford, GM, Chrysler interacted with Mr Vaidya and appreciated the efforts. The event ‘SAE World Congress Experience’ is convened by Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) which is an international organization for automotive engineering professionals. This is a flagship technical event for automotive engineers across the globe convened in Detroit, USA. Detroit is considered as international hub for automotive engineering talent where the big organizations like GM, Ford and Chrysler are located.

Mr Vishwas Vaidya is a member of SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) and received “Call for Papers” invitation. He has been a regular contributor for technical sessions for such global events during his earlier tenure with Tata Motors also.

“Frugal innovation has been my favourite topic for research and hence the topic was based on the same theme” said Mr Vishwas Vaidya. He added, “Although the paper was based on numerous technical articles I published internationally in various forums, entire SMIT team actively encouraged me in this endeavour led by our CEO, Mr Suresh and Director (ESS), Mr Vinay Pawar”.

The review committee members hailed from companies like General Motors, John Deere and Ideas & Motion. Mr. Riccardo Groppo who is CEO and Co-founder of Ideas & Motion chaired the session. The selection process starts with submission of abstracts around ten months before the event. A review panel consisting of global experts in relevant field is tasked for evaluating the submitted entries from across the globe. If abstract is accepted the participants are informed accordingly and they are asked to prepare and upload their manuscripts. Mr Vaidya manuscript was reviewed three times by three different experts. The reviewers raised many concerns/queries with his initial drafts which had to be satisfactorily addressed before the paper could qualify for final presentation.

The event was hosted for more than 3000 sessions for three days. Key note speeches, seminars workshops and product exhibition attracted crowds of global delegates across all automotive domains.

Mr Vaidya commented, “It is indeed an enlightening experience to face the global audience for presenting such a paper. Quality of the questions posed by the world-class audience teaches you a lot”.

We wish Mr. Vishwas Vaidya and SMIT team for the excellent step forward. Such steps boosts Spark Minda brand image at international level. It also means motivating our engineers to attain world-class skills and nurture a culture for pursuit of knowledge and innovation.