Celebrating 20 Years in Intelligent Transportation

This year, I’m proudly celebrating my 20^th anniversary in the Intelligent Transportation space.  We’ve come a long way from those first TRB Workshops!  Now we’re talking about smartphone-powered virtual head units, usage based insurance, V2X, Big Data and the Cloud.  At the same time, we’re still facing some very familiar challenges:  how to integrate constantly evolving technologies, and how to creatively address organizational issues and business models.

At SCG, it’s full steam ahead.   I’m pleased to share that in addition to VP, Industry Programs for the Connected Vehicle Trade Association, I am now also an ITS expert on the TRB IDEA innovation-funding panel.  2011 client projects included telecom, fleet, and emergency topics, public and private sector collaboration, with deliverables ranging from financial models to vision papers.

It was a real pleasure to reconnect with so many of you at  industry events throughout the year – I’ll look forward to catching up with you again in 2012.  And as always, if there’s any way that I can be of assistance to you, just let me know!

Best wishes for 2012!

Key TakeAways from Insurance Telematics 2011

This year’s Insurance Telematics USA show (ably managed by the energetic Telematics Update team) reflected the quickly gathering momentum in this space, as 370 participants from insurance companies and vendors gathered at Chicago’s McCormick Place for the two day event.  Speakers covered topics from business models and intellectual property to public-private partnerships and communications technologies.  “This show was one of the more informative and well attended conferences this year,” said Jack Pierce, Business Development Director at Applus. “It provided details as to where the insurance telematics market is currently and offered insight in where it is going. I’m glad I went.”

Key takeaways:

• It’s early days yet.  Pioneers in the insurance industry started work on the insurance telematics opportunity years ago, but technology, deployment and cost issues made for slow going.   Today, leaders such as Progressive Insurance are starting to sign up tens of thousands of U.S. consumers a month, and their competitors are hustling to join the game before the self-selected pool of early-adopting low-risk drivers is creamed off.  However, most insurers are still in the pilot stages, and participants reported a variety of deployment challenges as they seek to grow consumer adoption beyond today’s 1% rate.  Speaking on a panel, Nino Tarantino, President of Octo Telematics, projected that 2015-16 will be the timeframe for mainstream availability of usage based insurance (UBI) in the U.S., which appeared to be a consensus view among leading practitioners….

Read the rest of the article on CVTA’s site.

V. Shuman appointed VP, Industry Programs at CVTA

On the heels of a very successful First Annual Automaker Workshop, Valerie Shuman has been appointed VP, Industry Programs for the CVTA.

SCG to Chair CVTA Automaker Workshop

Looking forward to chairing CVTA’s First Annual Automotive Workshop on Connected Vehicle Technology on 11 April 2011!

SCG is now DBE Certified

The Illinois Dept of Transportation’s Office of Business and Workforce Diversity confirmed today that SCG has been certified as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE).

Guest Lecture – ITA Women’s Roundtable

Invited speaker for the Illinois Technology Association’s Women’s Roundtable on 26 October 2010.    Download the powerpoint: Breaking New Ground: Practical Strategies for Technology Business Growth.

Report from CVTA/SAE Connected Vehicle Summit

Attended the Second International Summit on the State of the Connected Vehicle, September 29-30, 2010.  50 speakers in two days provided an intensive overview of the industry.  SCG has now joined the CVTA, and will be partnering with CVTA leadership to develop the follow-on materials from this event.

Intellidrive Systems Engineering Workshop

FHWA Systems Engineering Workshop for Intellidrive program August 25-26, 2010 brought together a variety of  intelligent transportation professionals to discuss key needs and brainstorm potential applications of the Intellidrive system.

Guest Lecture – Keller MBA

Guest lecture provided to Keller Graduate School of Management on July 26, 2010 on Creating Connections: Internal Branding.

Intellidrive Workshop, Northbrook IL

The FHWA Intellidrive Workshop on July 20-22, 2010 laid out an ambitious effort to re-energize this long-term program.