SAEINDIA hosts APAC 23 engineering conference in Delhi, Nov 13 to 14

What APAC is and why it is in Delhi this week

The Asia Pacific Automotive Engineering Conference, known as APAC, is meeting for its 23rd edition on November 13 and 14 at the Yashobhoomi Convention Centre in New Delhi. SAEINDIA is hosting it in association with SAE International and FISITA, the global umbrella body for automotive engineering societies.

APAC began in 1981 as the International Pacific Conference and has grown into the main biennial technical gathering for engineers across the Asia Pacific region. This is only the second time India has hosted it. The last Indian edition was 15 years ago, so a researcher who presented a paper here as a junior engineer in 2011 could now be chairing a session.

The theme this year is "Xellerating towards Safe, Secure, Sustainable and Intelligent Mobility." Organisers expect more than 1,000 delegates and around 500 mobility experts travelling from 11 countries across the region, alongside more than 80 exhibitors from OEMs, component suppliers, engineering service providers, research institutions and government bodies.

What gets presented and who should care

The conference programme lists more than 150 technical presentations. SAEINDIA has grouped these into tracks covering future powertrains, automated and connected mobility, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, software defined vehicles, digital twins, vehicle dynamics, advanced materials, lightweighting and emissions and automotive standards.

For an Indian reader this matters because APAC is where a lot of the groundwork for later regulation and supplier contracts gets laid out. A paper on battery pack lightweighting or on cybersecurity architecture presented here can show up two or three years later as a supplier spec on a Maruti, Tata or Mahindra platform, or as an input to a future AIS standard. The conference also runs a Technology Theatre and a platform called TechHive, meant to let mobility start ups demonstrate work to the larger OEM and supplier audience in the hall, rather than just at a trade booth.

Engineering students and young professionals reading this from Bengaluru, Chennai or Pune will recognise the format. SAEINDIA runs this the same way it runs its student competitions like Baja SAEINDIA or the Tractor Design Challenge, with paper presentations judged by senior industry engineers, except here the papers come from full time researchers at OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers and institutes rather than student teams.

How to follow it from India

APAC 23 is a paid delegate event rather than a public exhibition. Registration categories published by SAEINDIA ranged from a discounted early bird rate for SAEINDIA members to a higher early bird rate for non members, a lower rate for academic faculty and a separate fixed rate for paper authors, with GST added on top. Those early bird windows have closed by now, so anyone trying to attend in person at this stage should check directly with SAEINDIA for walk in or day pass options at the Yashobhoomi venue.

For readers outside Delhi, SAEINDIA and SAE International typically publish selected papers through SAE Mobilus after such conferences, which is the practical way most Indian engineers end up reading APAC content months after the event itself. Watch SAEINDIA's own event and press channels for which papers get that treatment this time, and for any news coverage of specific sessions on powertrains or software defined vehicle architecture that comes out of the two days.

Sources

• SAEINDIA to Host APAC 23 Automotive Engineering Conference in New Delhi
• APAC 23 Brings Asia-Pacific Automotive Engineering Community Together in New Delhi
• SAEINDIA APAC 23 official event page
• SAEINDIA Event Calendar 2026-2027