Connected cars in London – the key to a smart city?

Robert Bateman

Project Manager – Vehicle Research and Advanced Engineering, Nissan

Manager for the Research and Advanced Engineering team working at Nissan’s European Technical Centre, based in Cranfield Bedfordshire for the last 26 years. Following working on the development of new production models in its Sunderland and Barcelona plants focusing firstly on interior trim and then vehicle safety components. For the last 12 years he has led the R&AE team in the UK to develop Nissan’s Global Research themes in Europe.

Projects include the development of the Infiniti Emerg-e high performance demonstrator vehicle in collaboration with Lotus and JLR as part of the ‘REEVolution’ project, an Innovate UK funded program between 2010 and 2012. He has also delivered other green powertrain programs working with UK SME’s and Universities and on ergonomic programs looking into the Human Sciences to ensure safe and comfortable experiences for Nissan customers.

While continuing to support these programs, Robert  managed the ‘HumanDrive’ project, co-funded by Innovate UK and CCAV to deliver Nissan’s aims to ensure the autonomous vehicle experience is ‘Human-Like’ whilst maintaining the maximum level of safety to both passenger and other road users. This was completed in early 2020 and included the UK’s longest and most successful drive to date of 230miles from Cranfield to Sunderland in late 2019. He is now project manager for the follow on project ‘ServCity’ where Nissan has taken the AD experience from rural and highway driving and transferred it into a connected city environment.

Robert Bateman | LinkedIn

Francesca Cesare Pintorno

Knowledge Transfer Manager - Digital Transport, Innovate UK KTN

Francesca has 10 years of experience managing innovation programmes which have supported over 1,000 businesses in their growth, designing accelerator programmes and bridging connections with investors. She has been working both in the private and public sector spanning organisations such as Lancaster University, The British Library, YouTube and the Royal Academy of Engineering. As Knowledge Transfer Manager for digital transport at Innovate UK KTN she supports local authorities to enhance their services through digital technology and connecting them with cutting edge entrepreneurs.

Mark Cracknell

Programme Director, Connected & Automated Mobility, Zenzic

Mark Cracknell is a Chartered Engineer who began his career at Transport for London before joining Zenzic and heading up the organisation. Mark works closely with key stakeholders across the CAM ecosystem to accelerate the safe and efficient deployment of CAM in the UK. 

As Programme Director for CAM, Mark has provided support to CAM Testbed UK, led the creation of the CAM Roadmap UK to 2030, which established a UK-wide view of the future for CAM, and supports CCAV in defining its future programmes and strategy. 

With expertise in the areas of infrastructure, communications, systems and innovation, Mark has contributed to national standards, spoken at numerous conferences and been interviewed on national TV. 

Ashley Feldman

Programme Manager, Transport and Smart Cities, techUK

Ashley Feldman leads techUK’s transport and smart cities programmes. He is responsible for shaping the agenda of the intelligent mobility and smart cities working groups to drive forward activity which supports the sector’s strategic priorities. He joined techUK in 2022 having worked in the public policy and communications industry and specialised in advising clients in the infrastructure, built environment and transport sectors on issues including stakeholder engagement, policy development and corporate reputation management. He has a masters degree in Urbanisation and Development from the London School of Economics and a degree in Geography from the University of Leeds. 

Rikesh Shah

Open Innovation and Open Data Expert, PA Consulting

Recognised as a thought leader on public innovation, Rikesh works as an open data, open innovation and future of mobility expert at PA Consulting, a global consulting delivering end-to-end innovation.  

Previously Rikesh led Transport for London’s award winning innovation team to create new value for London by working with start-ups, corporates, academia, accelerators and venture capitalists. He was responsible for creating TfL’s first Innovation Hub which has delivered some pioneering projects on areas such as air quality, road safety, active travel, enhancing customer experiences to retail and property development. The Hub set out the organisation’s key challenges and problem statements, bringing in the best innovators from across the world, piloting and scaling innovative solutions with the potential to commercialise, as well as establishing the right culture in the company focusing on agility and design thinking to work with market innovators by doing things better, quicker or cheaper.   

Rikesh was also responsible for TfL’s world leading open data programme which has 17,000 registered users, 700 apps powered by TfL data used by 42% of Londoners which an independent review stated that it’s worth to London is £130m per annum. He also was actively in involved during the 2012 Olympic Games and TfL’s response to COVID-19.

Most recently, Rikesh has been recognised in the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech in 2019 - 2021, being named one of the top five for sustainability in 2019. He was also recognised in the Top 100 Influencers for the Drum Digirati in 2018.  

Rikesh sits on the London Transport Museum Board as a Non-Executive Director, as well as a Civic Innovation Director (Non-Executive Director) at Cities Today, the global public innovation think tank. He has also been an Ambassador for London Tech Week since 2020. 

In academia, he Co-Chairs the Institute of Civil Engineering Data and Digital Advisory Board as well as Guest Lecturing on Open Innovation at the Royal College of Arts, Harvard University and the University of Oxford. 

Rikesh also served on the Mayor of London’s Smart London Board from 2016 to 2023.

Tarun Shome

Product Management Director, BlackBerry

Tarun has been at BlackBerry for nearly 21 years, starting in technical roles and moving into product management for mobile and IoT solutions. He led the technical product management team for EMEA and APAC, before moving into a pure product management role in 2017. Tarun currently works in the BlackBerry IoT Business Unit, focusing on the new BlackBerry IVY solution; a scalable, cloud-connected software platform being developed with AWS that will allow automakers to create personalized experiences and improve operations of connected vehicles. Tarun works closely with IVY Ecosystem partners in order to build up the rich ecosystem of services and solutions available on BlackBerry IVY.

Tarun Shome | LinkedIn

John Stenlake

Director Vehicle Innovation and Mobility, WW Automotive, Mobility and Transportation Industry, Microsoft Corporation

John Stenlake is currently the Director of Vehicle Innovation and Mobility solutions for the WW Automotive, Mobility and Transportation (AMT) Industry at Microsoft Corporation.

John works closely with multiple Microsoft product groups in order to ensure that the right offerings are brought to the AMT market, as well as working closely with select customers on advanced vehicle and IT projects.  John leads Microsoft’s ‘Connected Fleets’ reference architecture and program. 

Previously, he was the Worldwide Automotive Technologist for Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, WA, Chief Architect for Ford Motor Company, and the Chief Technology Officer for Living PlanIT, providing corporate leadership for continued innovation and use of technology.

Amongst other achievements, John led the architecture, design, development, and initial deployments of the award-winning PlanIT Urban Operating System, conceived of and led the development of Ford’s highly scaled eHub data sharing platform, and was highly instrumental in the development of the Ford Sync in-vehicle solution in partnership with Microsoft.  In total, John has more than 39 years' experience in software development, management, strategy, implementation, and consulting.

John Stenlake | LinkedIn

Max Sugarman

Chief Executive, Intelligent Transport Systems UK

Max Sugarman is Chief Executive of Intelligent Transport Systems UK, the national voice of the transport technology industry. He manages the strategy and direction of the organisation, representing the sector to government and stakeholders and making the case for the value of intelligent transport.

He has around a decade of experience working in transport, innovation and communications. He has previously worked at the Catapult Network, where he supported the nine Catapult innovation centres on cross-cutting policy issues and political engagement, and as Public Affairs & PR Director at the Railway Industry Association (RIA), the leading UK trade body for rail suppliers, where he led an award-winning communications function.