It is my great honor to serve as President of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (VTS) for the year 2025.
The Vehicular Technology Society has its roots back in 1949 when the Professional Group on Vehicular and Railroad Communications of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was founded. Last year, VTS celebrated its 75th anniversary with several activities and events including an anniversary celebration in conjunction with our two flagship conferences, the Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC) and the Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC), which were jointly held in Washington, D.C., USA.
VTS membership has grown significantly from 400 members in 1950 to nearly 10,000 members by the end of 2024. Previously, membership peaked in the late 1990s, triggered by the mobile communications boom. Today, membership has reached an all-time high. This indicates the timeliness and importance of the VTS fields of interest as well as the attractiveness of the Society and its activities and services. In particular, the VTS fields of interest mobile radio, motor vehicles and land transportation move closer together, which becomes prominently apparent in the ongoing discussions towards the 6th generation of mobile communications (6G).
The Vehicular Technology Society has established the slogan, “Connecting the Mobile World”. This remains a great general mission for all of us. While it today refers to connecting anything, connecting the mobile world includes providing the technology to connect people. In a more and more fragmented world, this is essential for still living the old dream of “one world”.
A society such as the Vehicular Technology Society is, essentially, its members. The Vehicular Technology Society strives at providing and constantly improving networking opportunities and services for its members. In doing so, it almost exclusively relies on voluntary contributions from VTS members. I would like to thank all volunteers for their dedication and hard work. I invite and encourage all of you to remain or become engaged in the Vehicular Technology Society. There are many opportunities to be an active part of the Society and to benefit from its services:
If you haven’t renewed your VTS membership, I encourage you to do so or to become a new member of VTS.
I would like to thank our past president Weihua Zhuang for her tireless efforts to enhance and grow VTS. The impressive state of VTS, as well as the record membership, are to a large extent due to her dedicated work.
I am thankful to be able to work with a great team of volunteers to shape the future of VTS. The VTS leadership team for 2025 includes Javier Gozalvez (Executive Vice President), Neeli Prasad (Vice President Membership Development), JR Cruz (Vice President Conferences), James Irvine (Vice President Publications), Nicholas Kirsch (Vice President Finance), Oliver Holland (Vice President Standards), Lin Cai (Vice President Mobile Radio), Ricardo de Castro (Vice President Motor Vehicles), Yousef Kimiagar (Vice President Land Transportation), and Abbas Jamalipour (Treasurer).
If you have ideas, comments or questions, feel free to contact me or any member of the leadership team via email through the VTS website.
I wish you a happy and successful new year and I hope to see you at our VTS events in 2025.
