Code/Mobile Adds Car Talk from Nissan, Qualcomm and BMW Adviser

One of the big themes at this year’s Code/Mobile is how the car industry is being hit with a wave of mobile technology.

On-demand apps like Uber and Lyft are changing how cars are bought and used, while connected cars are offering an array of entertainment options as well as the chance for everyday autonomous vehicles in the near future. With all the possibilities, we look forward to a vibrant discussion at Code/Mobile from both the automotive and tech industries.

Joining the lineup for next week’s event are Maarten Sierhuis, Nissan’s Silicon Valley R&D chief, Qualcomm VP Chris Borroni-Bird and Mark Platshon, a managing director at Icebreaker Ventures and an adviser to BMW on their venture fund. The event takes place Oct. 7-8 at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

As head of Nissan’s Bay Area research center, Sierhuis is leading exploration into the many issues related to connected cars and autonomous vehicles. A former NASA scientist, he spent the bulk of his career developing autonomous space vehicles, before joining Nissan in February 2013.

“I look at a car the same way an astronaut looks at his spacesuit,” Sierhuis has said. “It’s your life support, your home and it’s your work environment. This vision is what I bring to Nissan from NASA.”

Borroni-Bird currently heads up Qualcomm’s automotive efforts, but before that he worked on developing concept cars for GM and Chrysler. Platshon, an early investor in Tesla, is currently managing investments in a host of car-related companies, including Nauto, Amprius, Life 360, ChargePoint, RideCell, Zendrive and Zirx.

So, in short, we’ve got a whole lot of auto expertise headed for our fabled red chairs.

Plus, we’ve already announced the car section will kick off with a talk from Zendrive CEO (and former Googler) Jonathan Matus.

That said, there will be more than just car talk at Code/Mobile. We’ll look at payments and wearables with Fitbit CEO James Park, Apple Pay chief Jennifer Bailey, PayPal’s Bill Ready and Chase’s Gavin Michael.

Other speakers include Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg; FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel; AOL CEO Tim Armstrong; AT&T Mobility CEO Glenn Lurie; BlackBerry CEO John Chen, along with top executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google.

A limited number of tickets are still available.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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