Part 2 of 2: Recorded live at the Michigan International Auto Show on Thursday, February 2nd, 2023 at DeVos Place. In the second part of this episode, recorded live from DeVos Place, we were joined by Craig Piersma, Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications, with Gentex. Craig shared with us the contributions that Jen tax has made regarding automotive technology and beyond. Zeeland, MI-based Gentex is most notably known for their auto-dimming rearview mirror and has sold hundreds of millions of those units over the years. Hopefully, while you were at the show you also got to check out Gentex’s massive, heavily-modified Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss (2LT). Sitting high above the truck’s custom Mule Sam roof rack was a DJI Matrice 300 RTK drone for scouting the surrounding terrain. The truck was paired with a companion Vorsheer XOC (Extreme Overland Camper) featuring the same overland theme and matching wrap. It comes loaded with every outdoor adventure necessity, including a heater and air conditioning, propane stove, sink, fridge/freezer, rooftop tent, and more.
We were also joined in this episode by Andrew Redder, a Western Michigan University, engineering student and engineering lead for for the WMU Formula SAE race team. WMU’s Formula SAE is a collegiate competition where students design, manufacture, and build a formula one style racecar. Even more challenging, every year the Society of Automotive Engineers creating all new, nearly 200 page rulebook that Formula SAE cars must adhere to, challenging students’ creativity and innovative abilities.
Online Links of Interest: https://www.gentex.com/
https://wmich.edu/engineer/formula-sae
https://showspan.com/