演讲嘉宾与主席

Thorsten Adolph completed his doctorate at the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Traffic Medicine at Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg. From 2009 to 2015, he worked at the Federal Highway Research Institute. He worked as a project manager in European research projects with a focus on frontal impact, compatibility and biomechanics. There he contributed the proposed measures for the Ministry of Transport in the relevant committees (UN-ECE, Euro NCAP, EEVC, DIN, ISO). In 2016, he moved to AUDI AG in the area of vehicle safety as a function developer for vehicle safety. Since 2018, he has been a pilot for the ACEA Expert Group on Rescue, among others.

Since May 2023, Matthew Avery is Director of Strategic Development of Euro NCAP. In his previous position as Director of Research, Matthew Avery led detailed research into Automated Driving technologies predicting its future impact and supporting the insurance community around the next generation of driver assistance systems. In 2011 Matthew Avery was awarded the US Government Special Award of Appreciation for his contribution to the field of global traffic safety and his work has also been recognised by Global NCAP with the 2016 Safety Award presented to Thatcham Research in 2016.

Mario Henrique Cruz Torres is the CEO and Co-Founder of IVEX, where he drives the company’s vision, strategy, and product innovation. Under his leadership, IVEX has become a pioneer in developing cutting-edge tools for the validation and testing of autonomous driving systems and advanced driver assistance functions. With a PhD in Computer Science, Mario’s expertise lies in the intersection of safety, automation, and AI. Mario’s passion for solving complex, real-world problems has been the cornerstone of his career. He is committed to pushing the boundaries of technology while fostering a collaborative and innovative company culture.

Sam Deylen is a passionate automotive engineer from Australia who, in his current role, provides technical expertise in the active safety testing and assessment for ANCAP. Prior to joining ANCAP, Sam has worked in various vehicle evaluation roles which have focused on the adaptation of active safety features into the Australian market.

Maren Finck is a Project Manager at carhs.training gmbh. From 2008 - 2015 she worked at EDAG as a project manager responsible for vehicle safety. Previously, she worked several years at carhs GmbH and TECOSIM as an analysis engineer with a focus on pedestrian safety and biomechanics. Maren has been a firefighter at the local fire station since 1994 and uses her experience as a technical rescue instructor.

Dirk-Uwe Gehring is co-founder and managing director of BGS Böhme & Gehring GmbH. BGS has over 20 years of experience in pedestrian protection. Dirk-Uwe Gehring is in charge of Euro NCAP testing, type approvals according to R(EC)78/2009 and UN-R 127 as well as development and research test programs. He is member of international working groups on pedestrian protection.

James Jackson is a specialist in automotive human factors and ergonomics. Following from studying human factors design at Loughborough University, he spent the first part of his career working in OEM product development focussing on vehicle usability and cabin design. He joined IDIADA in 2018 and now leads human factors activities, managing user centred design and testing. This involves responsibilities for work alongside industry partners concerning safety and mobility of transportation users, with driver behaviour and condition being of central focus. For Euro NCAP James is a member of the working groups for Occupant Status Monitoring and Human Factors / Human Machine Interaction.

Henrik Liers studied Mechanical Engineering at the TU Dresden and worked in the GIDAS investigation team for four years. After graduating in 2006 he became a research assistant and in 2010 Head of the Data Analysis department at VUFO (Traffic Accident Research Institute at  the TU Dresden). He was responsible for national and international studies in the field of traffic and vehicle safety. The focus of his studies was on accident analysis for passive safety systems and VRU, benefit estimations of active safety systems and biomechanics. Since 2017, Henrik Liers is the managing director of the VUFO. He is a member of several working groups and since 2013, he is a lecturer at the Dresden International University (DIU) in the course “Vehicle Safety and accident research”.

Adriano Palao is an Automotive Engineer with over 10 years of experience in the Vehicle Testing and Validation domain. As a Technical Manager for ADAS & AD at Euro NCAP, he steers the many Working Groups related to Active Safety into developing ever-increasing requirements towards promoting enhanced vehicle safety.

Volker Sander has been head of the Vehicle Safety Department of ADAC, which includes active safety, passive safety and accident research, since 2010. Before that, from 1999-2007 he was in charge of the construction of ADAC’s crash test lab as a team manager. From 2007-2010 he lead the Passive Safety Department of ADAC. At Euro NCAP he is a member of the Board of Directors and chairman of the frontal impact working group. In addition to that he is member of the side impact working group, the technical working group and the ratings group of Euro NCAP. He is also lecturer for vehicle safety at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich.

Richard Schram started his career as a consultant at TNO Automotive in 2005. From 2010 to 2021 he was Technical Manager and Technical Director at Euro NCAP. He has been back at Euro NCAP as Technical Director since January 2023, after a short period as Director of Product Safety at Arrival.

Director and Professor Andre Seeck has been Vice President of the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) since April 2022, where he heads the Vehicle Technology division. In this position he is responsible for the preparation of European Safety Regulations. Furthermore he represents the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport in the Board of Directors of Euro NCAP and he is the chairman of the strategy group on automated driving and of the rating system. These positions enable him to gain deep insight into current and future developments in vehicle safety. In 2017 NHTSA awarded him the U. S. Government Special Award of Appreciation.