‘Autonomous vehicles – their future impact on legislation and fleet policy’ is the theme of the 2014 annual national members’ conference of the Institute of Car Fleet Management (ICFM).

The morning session will focus on the future impact that autonomous vehicles will have on managing corporate fleets. And afternoon keynote speaker, Hugh Dickerson from Google, will provide first-hand insight into the state of the technology today.

Panellist and guest speaker will be racing driver and TV personality Tiff Needell, who will also present the training awards.

The 22nd ICFM conference takes place on Tuesday, November 25, at the Henry Ford College, Loughborough and is kindly hosted by Ford Motor Company and co-sponsored by FMG, an independent incident prevention and fleet management services provider; Enterprise Rent-A-Car and British Car Auctions.

Chairman of the ICFM Roddy Graham said: “Central to this year’s conference will be an in-depth, ‘in-dialogue’ look at the whole subject of autonomous vehicles – how legislation will have to change to allow for their adoption and the implications for the fleet manager.

“The panel session promises to engage and enlighten the audience on this future automotive technology, which will be on us sooner than we think.

“Our expert panellists will use their background experience to answer many of the questions on everyone’s lips.”

Experts participating in the session include: Ian Mills, national manager - contract hire and leasing, Ford Motor Company; Bob Holbrey, group IT director, FMG; Gerry Keaney, chief executive, BVRLA; Craig Purvey, general manager corporate development, British Car Auctions; Adrian Bewley, head of business rental UK, Enterprise Rent-A-Car; Dr Nick Reed DPhil (Oxon) CPsychol principal human factors researcher, TRL Senior Academy Fellow; and Tiff Needell, British racing driver and television presenter.

The ‘in-dialogue’ session will be facilitated by Peter Eldridge, ICFM director and Council Member.

After lunch, Tiff Needell will be the conference guest speaker. Famous for winning a Formula Ford in an Autosport competition, Tiff went on to race an Ensign F1 car and came third at Le Mans in a Porsche 962C.

He is a former co-presenter of Top Gear and current co-presenter of Fifth Gear.

Graham said: “Education and training is central to everything that the ICFM does.

“Our accredited education and training programmes make a real difference to the contribution employees make to their organisations by helping improve efficiencies, save costs and ensure compliance.

“Our awards presentation will recognise individual achievement and rising talent.

“Receiving an award from Tiff Needell will give our recipients an even greater sense of individual achievement.”

Rounding off the informative programme will be keynote speaker Dickerson, senior industry head automotive at Google.

Dickerson promises to deliver an interesting and informative insight into the rapid developments in technology and social media and their application in the retail and automotive sector plus an overview of Google’s autonomous vehicle testing programme, which has seen its test cars cover over 700,000 accident-free miles.

The annual national members’ conference will commence at 10.00am and finish at 3.30pm. ICFM members will be allowed to bring one guest with them free of charge.

To register their free attendance, ICFM members should complete the online booking form at www.icfm.com. 

The deadline for registration is November 17, 2014. Cost of attendance for non-members who are not guests is £70. Non-members who wish to attend the conference should e-mail: administration@icfm.com.