Since 2015, Rolf Behling is working at Allianz Automotive Innovation Center as Head of Automotive Engineering. In this role he has the responsibility for a team, focused on innovative engineering related items with an impact on the insurance business like new propulsion systems, advanced driver assistant systems and autonomous driving. Before Allianz he worked with one of the largest independent engineering partners to the major automobile brands in different roles in the field of car safety (active and passive safety), lastly as Head of Testing. After several years of experience in accident research, passive safety and crash analysis he took over the position as head of test department which was successfully developed further by him over the next 10 years.

Amit Bhandare works as Global Product Line Manager Interior Sensing Systems at Magna Electronics.  Within this role, he takes charge of managing the DMS strategy and portfolio, engaging with customers as well as establishing partnership with suppliers. He has over 10 years of automotive experience, having worked in various roles, including Quality Engineering and Product Management. Prior to joining Magna in 2013, he worked with TATA Consultancy Services in India. Bhandare holds an MBA in Industrial Management from University of Applied Science, Esslingen (Germany) and a Bachelor of Automotive Engineering from India.

Dr. Bianca Biebl earned her Ph.D. at the Chair of Ergonomics at the Technical University of Munich, where she led the research group on automated driving. Since 2023, she has been a Human Factors Specialist at BMW Group, driving innovations in product safety for driver assistance and automated driving. She has successfully supported the launch of longitudinal and lateral control functions and led international customer studies using pioneering research approaches.

Richard Bishop, Principal, Next Generation Mobility LLC, has over 30 years of experience in the domain of intelligent, connected, and automated vehicles and how these interact with our transportation system and society, including automated cars, trucks, and robotaxis.  He provides strategic consulting to automotive manufacturers, suppliers, and tech firms, as well as advising federal and state government agencies in the U.S. and abroad. He led Team Lux in the DARPA Urban Challenge and since then has “surfed the wave” of AV development, working with a wide array of Automated Driving System developers.  Mr. Bishop has published extensively on Forbes.com as well as self-publishing. Prior to establishing Bishop Consulting in 1997, Mr. Bishop was Program Manager for Vehicle-Highway Automation at the USDOT Federal Highway Administration. 

Michael Fausten is Senior Vice President for Artificial Intelligence and Systems in the Corporate Research Division of Robert Bosch GmbH. Prior to Bosch Research in March 2021, he was responsible for the development of Automated Driving Systems at Bosch, since 2017 he headed the Bosch-Daimler Collaboration for Urban Autonomous Driving for several years. Between 2001 and 2017, he held various R&D roles within the company for automotive systems engineering in Vehicle Dynamics Management, Accident Avoidance and Mitigation, and Advanced Engineering. Michael started his career at Bosch in 1996 in the Manufacturing Plant of Toluca, Mexico, where he was responsible for special production processes and measurement technology. Michael has studied Physics at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität of Bonn and holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin.

Christian Gold earned his Ph.D. at the Technische University of Munich in the field of human performance when taking back the driving task from a Level 3 automated vehicle. In 2015 he started his career at the BMW Group as a specialist and later team leader for safety in use with a focus on driving assistance and automated driving. After working as a project manager in the field of passive safety in between, he became head of the group responsible for human factors, field operational tests and effectiveness analysis.

Fan Hailong is an authoritative expert in China's intelligent connected vehicle safety assessment field, currently serving as General Manager of the Electronic Information Business Division at China Merchants Vehicle Test & Research Institute Co., Ltd. He led the R&D of the world's first automotive AI safety evaluation system (AI-STAR), pioneered the Automotive Intelligent Safety Assessment Protocol (AI-SAP) with a six-dimensional safety model, and China's first Automotive Intelligent Cockpit Assessment Protocol (AI-CAP) for cockpit-driving integration. He spearheaded the establishment of China's automotive industry's first EPD* (Environmental Product Declaration) platform, building a bridge for international mutual recognition of automotive life-cycle environmental footprints. His pioneering achievements have played a pivotal role in advancing the global intelligent connected vehicle assessment technology system.

Since 2022, Thomas Helmer holds a full professorship for integral vehicle safety and vehicle technology at Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt. Thomas Helmer received his Diploma (M.Sc. degree) in Engineering Sciences from Technische Universität München (TUM). His doctoral work at Technische Universität Berlin (TUB) in cooperation with BMW Group focused on evaluation of active safety in traffic by means of virtual stochastic simulation. From 2011 to 2016 Dr. Thomas Helmer was project leader at the BMW Group for the development and application of effectiveness analysis of active safety systems, advanced driver assistance systems, and vehicle automation at the vehicle safety department. He was initiator and founding member of the international harmonization initiative P.E.A.R.S. as well as openPASS at the Eclipse Foundation. From 2016 to 2021 he coordinated all BMW predevelopment activities on ADAS, AV, digitalization, and interior. Since 2017, Dr. Thomas Helmer is lecturer for vehicle safety and vehicle automation both at Hochschule München and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.

Tassilo Ianniello is a research associate at the Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics at the RWTH Aachen University in the Balanced Human Systems Integration team of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Flemisch. His research focuses on the transformation of road traffic systems and the prevention of accidents caused by faulty mental models and misinterpreted sociotechnical systems. He studied Automotive Engineering and Transport at the RWTH and focused his master thesis on vehicle interiors supporting humans in non-driving-related tasks in highly automated vehicles at Volkswagen. He subsequently worked at FEV Vehicle, gaining industry experience in vehicle structure, packaging and ergonomics.

Matthias Kühn studied automotive engineering at the Technical University of Berlin. In 2004 he received his PhD with a thesis on pedestrian protection. Since 2005 he has worked for UDV (German Insurers Accident Research). Currently is he is head of vehicle safety at UDV. He is autor of the book "Fußgängerschutz" (Pedestrian Protection), published in 2006 and co-author of the "Handbuch Fahrerassistenzsysteme" (Handbook driver assistance systems), published in 2015. Since 2011 he has been lecturer at the department of automotive engineering of the Technical University of Berlin.

Oliver Lange received the Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering and information theory from the University of Kiel Beach, Germany, in 2008, and the Dr.-Ing. degree from the University of Stuttgart in 2011. At Bosch research, he currently holds the position of a senior expert on Computer Vision and project manager. His research interests include vision-based multi-view perception, and safe perception for automated and assisted driving.

Dr. Mara Münder has been a Human Factors Specialist at BMW Group since 2022, focusing on product safety in the context of driver assistance and automated driving. Her expertise spans advanced methodologies for analyzing customer behavior and developing cutting-edge automated driver assistance systems.

Sven Paeslack studied electrical engineering at the University of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg and completed it in 1994 as a Dipl.-Ing. Since 2002, he has been working at the KBA in the Type Approval department in the fundamental affairs division and has represented the department in various international EU and UNECE committees. Since 2018, he has been heading the Type Approval department.

Jordi Pont is the Project Coordinator of SYNERGIES, a Horizon Europe initiative advancing scenario-based safety validation and data federation for Connected, Cooperative, and Automated Mobility (CCAM). At Applus+ IDIADA, Jordi leads multidisciplinary R&I activities on automated driving validation, scenario generation, simulation frameworks, and large-scale testing methodologies. He has more than 10 years of experience in automotive safety, and European collaborative projects, contributing to major EU initiatives including HEADSTART, SUNRISE, and now SYNERGIES. Jordi specializes in harmonized validation approaches, interoperability frameworks, and integration of real, synthetic, and simulated data for safety-critical ADAS and ADS development.

Michael Praxenthaler completed his PhD at the University of Regensburg with a dissertation on driver distraction and in-vehicle tasks. Until 2024, he was Managing Director of empirience GmbH, where he led numerous studies on traffic safety, human–machine interfaces, and driver assistance systems. Since 2025, he has been an Expert for Traffic Psychology at Allianz Zentrum für Technik (AZT), focusing on human factors, traffic safety research, and the safety and insurance implications of advanced driver assistance and automated driving systems.

Norbert Schneider is currently working as Product Manager at the Würzburg Institute for Traffic Sciences (WIVW GmbH), which he rejoined in 2025. His primary research focus lies in advanced human-machine interaction (HMI), particularly concerning the design and controllability of automated driving systems (ADS). From 2019 to 2025, he served as a Human Factors Expert at Bosch within the central pre-development division of Cross Domain Computing Solutions (XC). In this role, he focused on the safety of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), specifically the design and validation of Level 2 hands-free functionality. He holds a degree in Psychology and wrote his doctoral thesis about the controllability and safety in use of automated steering and evasion assistants.

Dr. Axel Schwarz is the Vice President and Research Portfolio Manager for Automated Driving at Robert Bosch GmbH. With over 24 years of experience at the company, he oversees the strategic direction of research in key technologies such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and artificial intelligence. In his role, he focuses on advancing the development of new mobility solutions through targeted research.

Dr. Martin Stadler is Head of Insurance Law at Allianz Versicherungs-AG. He leads the working group at the GDV (German Insurance Association) that works on fundamental legal issues of motor insurance for the association. Dr. Stadler is involved in several publications on motor insurance law, including the “Münchener Kommentar zum Straßenverkehrsrecht” and “Kommentar zur Kraftfahrtversicherung Stiefel/Maier”. Dr. Stadler is a lecturer at the University of Hamburg and the TH Cologne.

Udo Steininger earned his diploma in Nuclear Physics in 1986 and began working in nuclear safety research with a nuclear power plant operator. Since 1991, he has been with TÜV SÜD, working in various fields including reactor safety supervision, railroad control and safety technology, and general road vehicle safety. In 2005, he shifted his focus to the safety of automated driving. In 2024, he co-founded TESACO GmbH, where he serves as Managing Director. TESACO's mission is to provide technical and regulatory support for the development and operation of vehicles and systems for connected cooperative automated mobility.

Sylvie Wacquant has a strong academic foundation in neural systems and neuroscience, which informs her rigorous approach to technological innovation, currently serving as Lead Engineer ADAS/AD Functions at Magna Electronics. Prior to joining Magna in 2014, she gained over a decade of experience across diverse companies and industries, specializing in algorithm development, image analysis, and machine learning. Transitioning into the automotive industry, she has developed expertise in in-cabin sensing, driver monitoring, and advanced ADAS functionalities. Her contributions to these domains are evidenced by multiple patents, reflecting her commitment to advancing vehicle safety and user-centric design. Wacquant has a European PhD in neuroinformatics from the University of Rouen, France and an engineer diploma in software and electronics from Polytech’Lille-EUDIL, France.

Wang Hong is Research Associate Professor at Tsinghua University. She received the Ph.D. degree in Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China, in 2015. From the year 2015 to 2019, she was working as a Research Associate of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering with the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on the safety of the on-board AI algorithm, the safe decision-making for intelligent vehicles, and the test and evaluation of SOTIF. She has published over 60 papers on top international journals. Her domestic and foreign academic part-time includes the associate editor for IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles, Young Communication Expert of Engineering.

Marcus Zwick studied industrial engineering at the University of Karlsruhe. After 5 years with Diebold as a consultant, he began his career at Siemens AG in Munich. He started in the central research unit and then moved to the Siemens VDO division. In 2009 he was co-founder of the business incubator "Innovative Mobility Solutions" to ensure the future and competitiveness of the Siemens Mobility division. 2020, he founded INYO Mobility GmbH to optimize mobility systems based on automated light-weight vehicles for first/last mile applications.