Trade shows are by definition an immersive environment. As such, many of them will often tell you want they think about the industries they are assembled to reflect, what they hope you’ll find attracive about their offerings, and even what they fear. [1]
Better still, all of this can happen whether the organizers want it to or not.
The recent Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) event held earlier this year at Cobo Center in Detroit is a case in point. Started in 1905, it had come about in part to address the first transformation of a then nascent transportation industry. Up until then, horses had been the trusted thing. [2]
Today, whether the casual resident of Saline Michigan recognizes it or not, a next and arguably more far reaching transformation is rapidly coming upon us. Variably labeled “autonomous vehicles” or “mobility,” it’s becoming increasingly clear that to view this change simply in terms of that which is driven around is woefully inadequate. “Smart cities” may not even cover it.
But one sure thing is this. WCX18: SAE World Congress Experience proves that the Society of Automotive Engineers gets it. Powerhouse commitments by established industry giants such as General Motors indicated that the established guard intends to remain in firm control of transportation. And the overall scheme of this exposition show floor reinforced a conscious messaging effort developed to get consumers to buy into their vision of the future. [3,4]
General Motors was a major force behind The Intelligent Transportation Society of America Annual Meeting & Expo that just closed today at Cobo Center. They were similarly visible at the North American International Auto Show five months ago. Common to its booth at each was a palpable “tech” energy, forward-looking, cutting-edge — pick your cliché. [5,6]
But not so with the show between those two, WCX18.
At WCX18, General Motors was giving a vibe much more akin to what original Saline Journal parent company D² Enterprises saw first-hand when covering such industry events in the 1980s. Its overall retro design was the stuff of which Exhibitor magazine case studies are made. Its 0/0/0 graphics seemed from the days before back-lit panels, let alone the multi-media extravaganzas that are all but the ante for automotive today. [7,8]
Moreover, it permeated the show floor. Barely around the corner from where Saline employees from NAVYA were offering shuttle rides, SAE had placed one of the largest exhibits on the floor and mostly populated it with vintage rides more in place at Brewed Awakenings on a Saturday morning. As readers here may recall, one of the half-century-old Cadillacs was on loan by special arrangement from the private collection of CR Patton II. [9]
Cinching this, the SAE International website itself reads, “Automotive history is rife with examples that demonstrate autonomy is far from a new idea.”
Look at all these cars and remember that you already know us, then look a little closer and we’ll convince you that today is but a natural, incremental step along a path we’ve been traveling together for over a century. [10]
Trust us.
More than any on-the-road technology, political decision, or shortcoming in data exchange capability, trust is by far and away the biggest obstacle to the future promised for autonomous vehicles and smart cities. Wall Street Journal auto columnist Dan Neil put a further fine point on this for Saline Journal. [11]
On the manufacturing/business side, GM gets it. They love the idea of charging per mile. They are also strongly hedging against a disruption of their business, caused by economic instability (the coming auto credit crash), compulsory electrification, and commodification of the product. GM’s halfway there already.
Or, as he’d said before, it’ll be a mere eight years before autonomous vehicles will be able to “match a New York cabbie, stroke-for-stroke.”
The Society of Automotive Engineers trade show presentation has said all of this to anyone who speaks the language of its medium. Where things are headed, with whom, and, most importantly — what it needs from you to get there.
Now plan accordingly.
References
- “What does information age mean for future of trade shows?” Dell Deaton (April 27, 1998) Marketing News.
- SAE International (home page).
- WCX18: SAE World Congress Experience (home page).
- “Ready or Not, Autonomous Vehicles Rolled Further Ahead This Week Toward Inevitability with Mobility for All” Dell Deaton (May 31, 2018) Saline Journal.
- The Intelligent Transportation Society of America 2018 Annual Meeting (home page).
- North American International Auto Show (home page).
- “Saline Has Been Providing Detroit Auto Show Content for Decades” Dell Deaton (January 11, 2018) Saline Journal.
- Exhibitor magazine (home page).
- NAVYA (home page).
- “Technology time-warp” Erika Anden and Lindsay Brooke (March 14, 2018) SAE International.
- “What Cities Need to Know about Consumer Acceptance of Autonomous Vehicles” Dell Deaton (March 30, 2018) Saline Journal.
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