David Schutt

Since the beginning of the mobility industry, there have been questions that no one person can answer alone. How do we build something better that serves a global community? What’s possible when you remove the limitations of proprietary solutions and work together, across industry, to innovate for the benefit of humanity?

Enter SAE International.

Thirty innovators formed SAE in 1905 to solve mobility’s greatest challenges — together. These industry pioneers came together with a shared vision to standardize automotive engineering and participate in a free exchange of ideas that would allow technology to advance faster and more safely than any one engineer could accomplish on their own.

Over a century of collaboration later, it’s hard to imagine what the world would look like if they hadn’t. Throughout history, members of SAE International have been behind some of mobility’s biggest technological advances – and we continue to prioritize technologies that are most pressing to industry. In partnership with our larger organization, Fullsight, SAE has designated sustainability, autonomy, and advanced manufacturing as focus areas.

When it comes to sustainability, SAE is uniquely suited to lead the charge, uniting industry, academia, and policymakers. Our internal start-up, Sustainable Mobility Solutions, is already making moves in workforce development to improve electric vehicle charging infrastructure, building key partnerships across industry and working with the White House and Departments of Energy and Transportation to progress forward.

Through its Additive Manufacturing Data Consortium, SAE Industry Technologies Consortia (SAE ITC) collects and analyzes massive amounts of requirements-driven data generated from industrial production. We at SAE International unite subject matter experts from around the world who use that data to create qualification and production standards. The Performance Review Institute (PRI) is the clear testing authority to accredit suppliers and audit finished products for ongoing quality assurance.

And as for vehicle automation—SAE’s J3016: Levels of Driving Automation™ standard is industry’s most-cited source for driving automation. As technology updates, so does our work, and members of our On-Road Automated Driving (ORAD) Committee meet regularly to provide the vehicle automation resources industry needs.

As a neutral convener, SAE brings together experts from around the world to join standards committees that talk through challenges, seek input from a diverse set of perspectives, and write and revise technical documents that guide industry practitioners in their work.

New Battery Institute for OEM, supplier training

From an educational standpoint, SAE provides a robust line up of professional development courses that allow for continued learning in topic areas that include cybersecurity, robotics, electrification, and more. New to our arsenal of programs is the new SAE/InnoEnergy Battery Academy, which offers 22 on-demand courses and 85 learning modules — so far. It offers hundreds of hours of training on topics across the battery lifecycle from raw materials to cell manufacturing through recycling and second life. This education is a must for OEMs, suppliers, seeking to excel as well as those seeking to retrain for the new era of mobility.

Learning opportunities continue with our wide-ranging library of journals and technical research publications and professional events like WCX, the World Congress Experience, which allows readers and participants to engage with complex topics and test the boundaries of what's possible. Through SAE, new trailblazers are born, future leaders find careers that excite and challenge them, and technical experts speak a common language as they do the work that will shape our future. 

Contributors take their development a step further when they become members. By joining a community of people who have created things that change the world and who wrote the rules on how to build them, members give themselves the best chance to become the mobility professional they want to be. SAE provides the comforting confidence of a trusted source of honest, neutral knowledge they need to find a solution.

SAE’s contributions make the lives of billions safer, more affordable, and more sustainable. From the Five Levels of Vehicle Autonomy, to 10W-30, to 36,000 feet in the air, to a global community of 200,000, the strength of our numbers moves the world forward every day.

About the author

David Schutt, PhD, is CEO of SAE International. He oversees the global management and operations of the +$160M SAE Group, consisting of SAE International (SAE), Performance Review Institute ^SM (PRI), SAE Industry Technologies Consortia® (SAE ITC), and several subsidiaries and joint ventures. Prior to joining SAE International in 2007, Schutt worked at the American Chemical Society (ACS) in several executive management positions. Dr. Schutt holds a Doctorate in Chemistry and Chemical Physics from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Calvin College. He also earned an M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins University.

SAE International is a not-for-profit educational and scientific organization dedicated to advancing mobility technology and design engineering to better serve humanity.