Preface: First Sustainable Mobility and Transportation Symposium (SMTS 2024) ^†

1. Introduction

1.1. Conference Introduction

The First Sustainable Mobility and Transportation Symposium (SMTS 2024) was held in person in Győr, Hungary, from October 14 to 16, 2024. This conference was dedicated to the exploration of the latest advancements and innovations in automotive technology and transportation, with an emphasis on fostering collaboration, sharing insights, and shaping the future of mobility among experts from diverse fields.

Following the event, it was concluded that the objectives of the conference had been successfully met. A conference had been established where both domestic and international research findings from recent years could be presented. Networking opportunities were also provided through accompanying events, enabling participants to expand their professional connections, which may result in future collaborations and joint publications.

The symposium was hosted by the Science Park and Management Campus at Széchenyi István University. Further information can be accessed on the symposium’s website: https://smtsymposium.sze.hu/home.

1.2. Organizers

This interdisciplinary scientific conference was organized by the Audi Hungaria Faculty of Vehicle Engineering and the Vehicle Industry Research Center at Széchenyi István University.

1.3. Scope and Topics

The symposium scope and topics included the following:

• Advancements in automotive materials and manufacturing techniques;
• AI in automotive design, manufacturing, and operations;
• Autonomous vehicle technology;
• Diagnostics and testing technologies and methodologies in vehicles;
• Electrification and battery technology;
• Industry 4.0 and mobile robotics;
• Innovations in logistics and forwarding;
• Mobility and society;
• Motorsport, eSport, and health science;
• Strategies and best practices in automotive engineering management;
• Sustainable alternatives in fuel and lubricant technologies;
• Transportation infrastructure;
• Trends and methodologies in vehicle development.

1.4. Program and Schedule

The symposium program consisted of three plenary sessions (one each day) and seven technical sessions. Details of the program schedule are available at https://smtsymposium.sze.hu/program-2024-1.

2. Committee Members

The success of the conference was largely thanks to the committee members and reviewers, whose expertise and dedication were invaluable.

2.1. Organizing Committee

András Lajos NAGY, Chair of the Organizing Committee, Research Fellow at the Department of Propulsion Technology, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Boglárka EISINGER BALASSA, Habilitated Associate Professor at the Department of Leadership and Marketing, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Nikolett GYURIÁN NAGY, Assistant Professor at the Department of Leadership and Marketing, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Szabolcs KOCSIS SZÜRKE, Associate Professor at the Department at Road and Rail Vehicles, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

László LENDVAI, Associate Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Hilda Biborka BARTHA, Marketing Consultant at Vehicle Industry Research Center, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Dániel CSIKOR, Research Engineer at Vehicle Industry Research Center, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Rita FÖLDESI, Creative Design Consultant at Vehicle Industry Research Center, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Bianka Marianna NAGY, Marketing Consultant at Vehicle Industry Research Center, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Dániel PUP, Scientific Coordinator at Vehicle Industry Research Center, Széchenyi István University, Hungary.

2.2. Scientific Committee

József BOKOR, Vice President for Research and Innovation, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Szilárd ARADI, Associate Professor at Department of Control for Transportation and Vehicle System, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary;

Péter GÁSPÁR, Head of the Systems and Control Laboratory, Institute for Computer Science and Control, Hungarian Research Network, Hungary;

John Jairo MARTINEZ-MOLINA, Professor at the GIPSA Laboratory, Department of Control System, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, France;

Tamás PÉTER, Research Professor at István Széchenyi University, Hungary;

Ferenc György RONKAY, Full Professor at Department of Innovative Vehicles and Materials, GAMF Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, John von Neumann University, Hungary;

Olivier SENAME, Full Professor at Grenoble INP/UGA, France;

Zoltán Béla SZABÓ, Head of the Theory of Dynamical Systems Research Group of the Systems and Control Lab of HUN-REN Institute for Computer Science and Control, SZTAKI, Hungary;

István SZÁSZI, Representative of the Bosch Group in Hungary and the Adriatic region, Hungary;

István VARGA, Dean of the Faculty of Transportation Engineering and Vehicle Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary.

2.3. Program Committee

Gábor DOGOSSY, Full Professor and Dean at the Audi Hungaria Faculty of Vehicle Engineering, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Ferenc SZAUTER, Head of Vehicle Industry Research Center, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Pavol BAUER, Full Professor at the Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands;

Vanja BEVANDA, Full Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Tourism “Dr. Mijo Mirković”, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Croatia;

Salvatore Damiano CAFISO, Full Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, Italy;

Nicole DÖRR, Researcher at Austrian Competence Centre for Tribology (AC2T) research GmbH, Austria;

Boglárka EISINGER BALASSA, Habilitated Associate Professor at the Department of Leadership and Marketing, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Dániel FESZTY, Full Professor and Head of the Department of Whole Vehicle Development, Audi Hungaria Faculty of Vehicle Engineering, Hungary;

Kevin J. FINN, Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Kinesiology and Health, University of Central Missouri (UCM) in Warrensburg, Missouri, USA;

Dénes FODOR, Head of Department of Power Electronics and Electric Drives, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Gábor GUBICZA, Head of Measuring Technology, Fine Measurement Room, Audi Hungaria Zrt, Hungary;

Thomas GARBE, Senior Manager for Fuels at Volkswagen, Wolfsburg, Germany;

Nikolett GYURIÁN NAGY, Assistant Professor at the Department of Leadership and Marketing, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Dirk HAMMERSCHMIDT, Distinguished Engineer, Infineon Technologies Austria AG, Austria;

Hajnalka HARGITAI, Professor and Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Péter HARTH, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Automotive Technology, Budapest University of Technology and Economic, Hungary;

János HOLLÓSI, Assistant Professor at the Department of Informatics, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Ernő HORVÁTH, Scientific Leader at the Autonomous Transport Systems Center, Vehicle Industry Research Center, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Imre HORVÁTH, Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, Netherlands;

István LAKATOS, Head of Department at Road and Rail Vehicles, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

László LENDVAI, Associate Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Christof MICHENTHALER, System Application Engineer for Automotive Sensors within Infineon‘s automotive business unit, Infineon Technologies Austria AG, Austria;

András Lajos NAGY, Research Fellow at the Department of Propulsion Technology, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

József PERGER, Head of Functional Analysis Drive/Chassis/Body, Audi Hungaria Zrt., Hungary;

László POKORÁDI, Full Professor at Institute of Mechatronics and Vehicle Engineering, Óbuda University, Hungary;

Nina POYDA-NOSYK, Professor at the Department of Accounting and Auditing, Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education, Berehove, Transcarpathia, Ukraine;

Rahul RAZDAN, Vice President of Strategy for Flextronics (FLEX), USA;

Raivo SELL, Professor in Robotics, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Estonia;

Lóránd SZABÓ, Full Professor at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania;

Stefan UGRINOV, Teaching Assistant at the University of Novi Sad, Technical Faculty ‘Mihajlo Pupin’, Serbia;

Balázs VEHOVSZKY, Associate Professor at the Department of Whole Vehicle Engineering, Széchenyi István University, Hungary;

Ibolya ZSOLDOS, Full Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Széchenyi István University, Hungary.

3. Keynote Speakers

The keynote speakers and their respective topics were as follows:

István SZÁSZI (Robert Bosch Kft, Hungary): The Automotive Industry Today and Tomorrow;

Gábor GUBICZA (Audi Hungari Zrt, Hungary) and Silvio BIASI (Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., Italy): Engine Project Support;

Thomas GARBE (Volkswagen AG, Germany): The Contribution of Climate Fuels to the transition of Road Traffic;

Rahul RAZDAN (Florida PolyTechnic University, USA): Scalable Methods for Verifying Autonomous Cyber–Physical Systems;

Nicole DÖRR (Austrian Excellence Center for Tribology, Austria): Carbon-Free Energy Carriers—Impact of Ammonia on Engine Oil Performance;

Salvatore D. CAFISO (Università di Catania, Italy): Road, Traffic and Environmental Factors in the Operational Design Domain of Lidar and Vision-Based Lane-Keeping Systems;

Imre HORVÁTH (Delft University of Technology, Netherlands): Understanding the Shifting Paradigm of Cyber–Physical Systems;

Pavol BAUER (Delft University of Technology, Netherlands): Charging Technology and Energy Hubs;

Kevin J. FINN (University of Central Missouri, USA): Physical Characteristics of Motorsport Drivers;

Dirk HAMMERSCHMIDT (Infineon Technologies, Austria): Integrated Sensors for e-Drive Control.

4. Sponsors

This interdisciplinary scientific conference was supported by Audi Hungaria Zrt and Robert Bosch Kft.

5. Statement of Peer Review

By submitting conference proceedings to Engineering Proceedings, the editors of this volume certify that all papers were subjected to our rigorous peer review process. Expert referees conducted these reviews, adhering to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal.

• Type of peer review: single-blind—reviewers know the identity of authors, but authors do not know the identity of reviewers
• Conference submission management system: open journal system (https://submission.smtsymposium.sze.hu/smt)
• Number of submissions sent for review: 129
• Number of submissions accepted: 96
• Acceptance rate (number of submissions accepted/number of submissions received): 74.4%
• Average number of reviews per paper: 2.23
• Total number of reviewers involved: 141

6. Peer Review Criteria and Process

The manuscripts submitted underwent a preliminary screening, which included formal checks, language checks (using Grammarly), and plagiarism and artificial intelligence (AI) detection (using Turnitin), before being sent for review. If revisions were needed, then authors were asked to make improvements prior to the formal review process. Consequently, reviewers were first asked to assess the manuscript during the second review round. Each manuscript was reviewed by at least two independent experts who were not part of the conference staff; if necessary, a third reviewer from the staff could also be involved. A review form, modeled after those used by MDPI journals, was employed in the peer review process, containing both a questionnaire and a textual evaluation section. Each reviewer provided a recommendation, which was used by the editors to make the final decision.