On Oct. 17, HORIBA held the 13th Masao Horiba Award Ceremony to honor and commemorate the achievements of researchers engaged in developing innovative technologies.
The target technical field for the awards is decided each year with a focus on the principles and fundamental technologies fostered by HORIBA to spotlight unique research and development whose achievements and potential need to be publicized to the whole world.
This year’s theme is “Situational Awareness Technologies to Enable Autonomous Driving.” The 2015 ceremony was held under the theme of “Nanoparticle Measurement,” the 2014 ceremony “Gas Measurement” and the 2013 ceremony “Water Properties Measurements.”
HORIBA holds these ceremonies every year with a sense of mission to broadly publicize the achievements of researchers engaged in further advancing the analysis and measurement technologies that are indispensable for the development of science, engineering and industry.
Masao Horiba Award Deputy Chairperson Dr. Yoshihiro Suda, who also is professor and director of the Advanced Mobility Research Center, Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, gave the following comments, “Automated driving is a very timely theme. Automated driving was attracting the attention of many participants at the ITS World Congress held in Melbourne as well as at the G7 Transport Ministers’ Meeting held in Karuizawa, Japan, last month. Automated driving and measurement technologies will become more important than ever before in the near future. The Masao Horiba Award winners for this year were all unanimously selected by the judges. I hope that the winners will further contribute not only to automated driving but also to the development of science, as a result of receiving the award, and continue to conduct original research.”
Dr. Masayuki Adachi, HORIBA’s senior managing director, added, “Autonomous driving not only overturns the commonly accepted idea that the driver sitting behind the steering wheel is always responsible for his or her driving; it also has the possibility of changing the powertrain calibrations, safety and environmental regulations, as well as vehicle packaging including cabin entertainment, and even traffic control. However, whether or not such changes can practically be implemented depends heavily on the development of suitable sensors and control technologies. I hope that the technologies invented by this year’s award winners will contribute to the future of mobility that ensures safety, reduces environmental impact and opens the doors to a new era.”
