At the conference the Ride & Drive tent is where attendees can reserve a timeslot to drive any number of vehicles. Before the conference, attendees can register for up to two vehicle timeslots using an online reservation system. Gold and Silver sponsors have an option to pre-register up to one vehicle before online registration is open to all attendees. Once the online registration ends, the information is exported and used as the starting point for the onsite process.
Admin Team Overview
The Ride & Drive online reservation system and the SAE Detroit event team handles most of the email sends and processing related to the Ride & Drive process. The administration team at JTEKT will be the contact email address in the communications and the online reservation system. There is a chance that an attendee will contact the admin team directly with a question about the Ride & Drive process and/or a support request related to their reservation. This document provides an overview of the process and provides details on how to act on standard support requests.
Sponsorship Pre-registration Period
For a window of time the Ride & Drive registration system is only available to a pre-determined set of sponsor attendees. During this period they can reserve one timeslot. When the sponsorship registration period is over the Ride & Drive registration is open to everyone to pick up to two timeslots. At this time the sponsor attendees can also select a second vehicle timeslot.
Open Enrollment Period
When registration is open to all, it will remain open until just before the conference, October 10 for 2022. Attendees can review and change their reserved timeslots anytime during this period. Once the period has ended the attendees can use the same system to review the selections they have made but can not make any changes (and are told to contact you or go to the tent)
Onsite Process
Once the Ride & Drive open enrollment period has ended, the reservation information is exported into a spreadsheet for use onsite. At this time, the details see in the reservation system will match the spreadsheet.
The Ride & Drive Administration Dashboard
A link to the Ride & Drive Administration Dashboard will be provided to the admin team along with a username and password to access the system. The Ride & Drive Dashboard provides an overview of all the timeslots taken and available with exports. There are also options to resend the Ride & Drive invitation email and make changes on behalf of the attendee. Click here to learn more about the Ride & Drive Administration Dashboard.