SXSW 2015: 7 Sessions you don't want to miss

This year's South by Southwest in Austin, Texas just came to an end if you hadn’t already heard, the SXSW is one of the most innovative, crazy and tech-savy events on the planet. The SXSW Interactive in particular creates excitement and trends of technology and disruption with more than 800 sessions, exhibit and networking events!

Image: Ed Schipul CC BY 2.0

So, what’s in it for the automotive community? A lot, according to the SXSW:

"From self-driving cars to alternatively-fueled vehicles to automobiles that can achieve flight to revolutionary ride-sharing programs, the transportation sector is undergoing dramatic changes — and these changes are well-represented in 2015 SXSW programming."

For all of you who’d like to know more about the future trends and concepts of transportation, we looked into the giant session schedule and identified the top 7 SXSW 2015 sessions you don’t want to miss. Some of them are already available online and we compiled this small selection. Time to geek about connected, self-driving, 3D printed, crowdsourced and community driven cars and vehicles!

1. Crowd Sourcing The World's First 3D Printed Vehicle - Local Motors

Local Motors has been all over the news lately with its 3D printed cars designed by independent vehicle-makers and auto enthusiasts.,It's a decidedly novel approach to a novel technology that's still in the infant stages of commercial use. Hear John Rogers Jr., CEO of Local Motors present the challenges inherent to taking an emerging technology from theory to reality.

2. Fixing Transportation with Humanity and Technology - Lyft

Imagine a world without traffic, with fewer parking garages, and every car and every seat was filled. Where strangers become acquaintances on the commute and time, money are saved. Lyft’s CEO started dreaming about this as a child, but it wasn’t until recently that he pursued it to become a reality. Get inspired.

3. Your Connected World - What Did you Sign Up For?

We live in the time of connected homes connected cars. Appliances and hardware develop in more advanced ways, and we get closer to living the "smart" way of life. Making life and transportation more seamless, thanks to the Internet of Things, may be the unavoidable future for most of us. But what about the risks? What about privacy? How will our data be used? Regardless, connected products have been boosting interest in innovation and reflecting positively on the market as Scott Weiss, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and Quirky CEO Ben Kaufman discuss.

4. Advanced Mobility

We all know by now about the Google Car, about Car-To-Car Communication, Car-To-X Communicationeard and automotive smart data. But what about value? What about real-world implementation? In this session we hear from three different perspectives - the investor, the entrepreneur and the innovator to learn how all of this will shape the face of mobility and transportation.

5. Bringing the Flying Car Into Reality - AeroMobil

This session is all about a future and what it could bring to those who are not afraid of a little height! The flying car is a (technical) reality and Juraj Vaculik, CEO of AeroMobil, is determined to teach the world how we’ll be literally flying down streets. Ready for take-off...

6. Under the Hood - Tech Behind Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous vehicles are here to stay. If you follow the news, you heard about various released prototypes by several OEMs and an increasing number of ADAS Features. But while most people know the capabilities of autonomous vehicles, they’re unsure of how autonomous cars are able to operate effectively. "As sensing technology and real-time data processing gets faster, smaller and more efficient, autonomous vehicles will continue to evolve and possibly become the norm." This session outlines the technical aspects of enabling autonomous vehicles.

7. What's next for talking Cars? - US Department for Transportation

Is the US Government going to be left behind on the new smart car front? The Department of Transportation announced that it will require vehicle-to-vehicle communications technology to be installed in future new cars. The "talking" of cars will be allowed via wireless technology. To push things further, the DOT recently announced plans "for several Connected Vehicle Pilots where cities can partner with applications developers to demonstrate how new applications can operate in a real-world environment.". In this session members of the Department of Transportation discuss the research plan and research tracks for this ambitious government program.

Most of the Interactive Sessions will be published via SXSW's own website and media channels on YouTube and Soundcloud. Keep your eyes and ears open, there will soon be more sessions online!