The Automotive Electronics Guide 2017: An AspenCore/Paul O’Shea Special Edition

Tai Chi Master Paul O'Shea

BY W. VICTOR GAO 
Publisher and Managing Director, 
The AspenCore Group

MUNICH, GERMANY — Rodolfo Bonetto is not a household name. Nephew of 1930s and ’40s racing legend Felice Bonetto, Rodolfo was a self-taught industrial designer who abandoned a successful jazz career but went on to collect eight Golden Compass awards and twice became president of L’Associazione per il Disegno Industriale. Through collaboration with automotive component supplier Veglia Borletti — from which early sketches of Vignale, Viotti, and Boneschi emerged — Bonetto’s rationalist ethos has influenced generations of designers, from Fiat to Maserati in the ’60s, crossing the Atlantic to Ford and GM in the ’70s and ’80s, and now back in Europe in its automotive seats of power. In numerous interviews, Adrian van Hooydonk, the Dutch-born, Munich-based head of design at the BMW Group, has traced his love affair with design and cars to an early internship under Bonetto in Milan.

Bonetto’s story is far from unique. He may not have been a media-savvy celebrity for society at large, but his quiet work left a legacy of beauty, humility, and ingenuity and inspired those who came after him.

Every time you click on one of our websites at AspenCore or run your finger down the masthead of one of our magazines, you see the names of our editors and contributors. Like Bonetto, none of them are public celebrities, nor do they seek such attention. Instead, they are the people who believe with a passion that technology will make life not just different, but better. Not just cheaper, but smarter. Not just easier, but more inspired. They are the people who not only tell you the what, but the how and the who and the why as they chase a story lead from an image sensor factory floor in Grenoble to an earthquake zone in Sichuan, China, where experimental X-ray drones are helping rescue workers save lives. Then they sit down in front of their workbench and unpack how to use a high-voltage, high-efficiency, positive-to-negative converter to simplify the design of industrial supplies. And while good journalism — technical journalism, especially — brooks no shortcut nor ideology, our editors and contributors tell these stories with elegance and ease because they are their stories too.

Journalism is a craft, the kind where the master matters in the upbringing of the apprentice. Some of you may know that last month, Paul O’Shea, one of our long-time editors, retired after an extraordinarily productive career. Even though I have only gotten to know Paul since 2015, I have witnessed Paul’s inspiration to his colleagues, especially the younger editors on our staff. Like Rodolfo Bonetto, Paul is a polymath. Some of us experienced first-hand Paul’s prowess as a Tai Chi Master. Right before Paul retired, he assembled a special report on the automotive sector, which is a treasure trove of information on what automotive electronics are and what makes them special, moreso than ever as the automotive industry is shifting gears of its own. In honor of Paul and his long service to the electronics industry and to journalism, we have renamed the series the AspenCore/Paul O’Shea Special Edition of The Automotive Electronics Guide 2017 and will be preserving it in our permanent archives. Go on, take a read, and don’t forget to leave a congratulatory message for Paul. Thank you for your support.