Autoblog Expands Into Events, To Launch Upshift Conference

by , June 15, 2016

AOL’s automotive news and car shopping Web site Autoblog is expanding into the event space. The brand is hosting their first two-day conference this October, called Upshift, to explore the future of mobility and technology.

Upshift will be held at the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit, Michigan, from October 5-7, 2016. The conference will feature keynote speakers, panels and live demonstrations, with engineers and innovators from the automotive industry, city and state-level government planners and start-ups.

There will be a special focus on autonomous driving and the impact that technology will have on infrastructure, security, design and economics.

“The car is going to change dramatically in the next 15 to 20 years, and we wanted to put on an event that explores that,” Michael Austin, editor in chief of Autoblog, told Publishers Daily. “We wanted to establish Autoblog as a thought leader in the automotive space, since we don’t have a legacy print publication.”

Austin said that their sales team is currently selling the conference to advertisers now. Autoblog chose to host the event in Detroit because of the city’s “built-in automotive audience.”

“Detroit is changing and growing and improving every day, and it’s a metaphor for the way automotive is going to change,” Austin said. “It’s important to us to get outside of the stigma about Detroit that automotive is this cocoon of thought. That’s not the case, we want outside ideas.”

Austin added that another big project in the works for Autoblog is virtual reality — especially now that AOL has acquired virtual reality studio RYOT. “Automotive really lends itself to VR. We have a head start and we want to be a leader in the space,” he said.

Tickets for Upshift will go on sale soon. For those who can’t make it to Detroit, Autoblog will cover the event with live video.

 

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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