Preview: SAE 2021 WCX
Mobility’s annual technology event returns April 13-15 in virtual format.

SAE International’s 2021 WCX event will unfold entirely online April 13-15 with hundreds of technical paper presentations and insights from top mobility-industry leaders, who will share their perspectives on engineering and technology challenges during panel discussions. This year’s event, formerly SAE World Congress, highlights more than 800 SAE Technical Papers and 72 hours of live presentations via six technology tracks.
Topics will focus on materials and lightweighting, electrification, advanced propulsion and vehicle emissions, automated and connected cars, occupant protection as well as design and manufacturing. The live and on-demand tech tracks entail more than 1,100 presentations. Technical paper presentations begin at 9 a.m. Sessions are 90 minutes long, and presentations finish before the afternoon’s Leadership Summit panel discussions begin.
“WCX offers the most critical subject matter experts on everything automotive from the mobility ecosystem, and that includes bumper to bumper, and bits and bytes. Although the show will be heavily focused on the traditional technologies, we’re also highlighting the future state of technology,” said Marc LeDuc, SAE’s 2021 WCX content manager.
Virtual attendees get live access to the three-day event as well as on-demand access for 90 days. On-demand online access enables WCX participants to replay the show’s tech paper presentations and panel discussions, and it includes exclusive content of 600-plus presentations from the authors of peer-reviewed, SAE publication-approved manuscripts. “The digital platform provides opportunities for attendees to ask questions and network with subject matter experts during and after WCX,” said LeDuc.
Leaders on the virtual stage
Live Leadership Summit panel discussions kick off at 1:15 p.m. on all three show days with electrified/autonomous vehicles ushering in each afternoon’s schedule. The April 13 opening day session, moderated by SAE’s LeDuc, addresses the autonomous-vehicle challenge with “What Will It Take to Get to SAE Level 3 and 4?”
The April 15 closing day’s Leadership panel discusses the multiple elements of electrification, including OEMs, suppliers, power utilities and fleet operators. The panel, “EVs – Customer Choice or Forced by Legislation?” will be moderated by Lindsay Brooke, Editor-in-Chief of Automotive Engineering and Autonomous Vehicle Engineering magazines.
All roundtable discussion sessions include a strong mix of industry experts, ranging from supply chain and OEM representatives to government officials. Panelists on the EV-centric Thursday session are: Emad Dlala, senior director, Efficiency and Energy Technology, Lucid Motors; Timothy Frazier, executive director, Advanced Engineering, Cummins, Inc; Sean Gouda, manager, electrification, DTE Energy; Dr. Kiran Govindswamy, director of Powertrain Development, Vehicle Engineering and NVH, FEV North America Inc; Nisarg A. Modi, head of worldwide business development, Connected & Autonomous Vehicles, Amazon Web Services, and Daniel Nicholson, VP of Electrification, Controls, Software & Electronics, General Motors.
In addition to the EV and autonomous vehicle panel discussions, other future-vision sessions include two roundtable sessions: “Using Advanced Manufacturing to Drive Product Development” (April 14, 2:45 p.m.), and “How Are Executives Driving Innovation and Transformation?” (April 14, 4:15 p.m.). Each end-of-day Leadership Summit session begins at 4:15 p.m. and concludes at 5:30 p.m. The daily afternoon program features three panel sessions, separated by two, 15-minute networking breaks.
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