At Humanetics, our commitment to safeguarding human well-being is the cornerstone of our mission, propelling us to push the boundaries of safety technology and design. In partnership with the industry, our collective dedication brings us closer to our vision of a safer world for all.
As we look forward to 2025 and beyond, the opportunities that AI, automation, and simulation present are significant. We can already see the positive and disruptive impact they are having on various sectors, including automotive, aerospace, defense, mobility, communications, energy, and biomedical.
Recently, I looked back through our Humanetics Archives, documenting our industry's past 75 years. I was reminded of Ivan Pavlov's comment: 'If you want a new idea, read an old book.' Looking back 100 years when automotive industry started scaling production, and then 50 years as electronics and material science drove a new wave of innovation and adoption. We must acknowledge both the huge progress made by the bold actions of a few individuals and, simultaneously, how little collective progress we've made on some fundamental developments that could impact everyone, such as ensuring safety applies equally to all occupants regardless of who is driving.
Pillars of Innovation
I want to focus on the gap between the extraordinary potential of our technology and vision, and the reality we ultimately decide to create. Bridging this gap will accelerate better product development and save lives. Dialogue and partnership are critical to that journey and to our success as an industry. So, as we continue to advance our mission of safety, I want to highlight two key pillars that will guide us in 2025:
Safety as a Mission
We will always put human well-being at the center of everything we do. This is exemplified through our integrated approach to safety and human-centric design across hardware and software solutions, creating data from critical environments to help control and optimize performance. Our solutions not only safeguard human well-being but also support the industry in driving down costs and simplifying the end-to-end process of product development and production. We will also continue to diversify into non-automotive solutions through our custom sensor solutions for critical environments in aerospace, industry, and healthcare.
Commitment to Action
As my review of the archives reminded me, innovation without action is merely ideation. Improved outcomes require bold actions. We know this firsthand from our pioneering development of the THOR-5F and THOR-AV devices, which demonstrate the huge scope for innovation in improving safety. However, in our industry, it is challenging to make unilateral moves. In 2024, and again in Washington DC in January this year, we hosted executive roundtables to bring together safety leaders from across the industry. Our goal was to energize and amplify our collective efforts as we consider how to leverage advanced ATDs, certification, active safety, and simulation to advance the industry.
Charting New Horizons
As we venture into 2025, we stand at the cusp of transformative advancements in safety technology. Our vision extends beyond mere incremental improvements; we're poised to redefine the very landscape of human protection across our domains.
While embracing cutting-edge innovations, we remain grounded in our core mission: to safeguard human well-being and put humans at the center of industrial design. The road ahead is filled with exciting possibilities, and with your continued support, we're ready to turn these visions into reality.
Let's make 2025 a year of unprecedented progress in our shared mission of safety.
Warm regards,
Christopher J. O’Connor
Chris is the CEO and President of the Humanetics Group and is passionate about advancing safety. Through his leadership and mission in developing advanced technology to prevent injury and save lives, he is recognized as the “father of the modern crash test dummy” and one of the industry’s leading safety experts. Chris serves on various boards, has previously worked at several Fortune 500 Companies, and is a US Army Colonel (retired).