Recorded live from the show floor at CES 2019, The Autonocast is joined in our Ford Fusion by two distinguished doctors: Dr Mark Rosekind, Chief Safety Innovation Officer at Zoox and former NHTSA Administrator, and Dr Jeffrey Michael of Johns Hopkins University. The two good doctors joined us to discuss their participation in Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE) and the perceptions and realities of automated vehicle safety.
The Autonocast's CES coverage rolls on, with another conversation recorded from our Ford Fusion on the show floor courtesy of Avis Budget Group. This time we are joined by the sponsor of our CES party Ro Gupta of Carmera, as well as Chris Heiser and Jason Stinson of Renovo, who talk about the subdued tone around the autonomous car and mobility technology sector at this year's CES. We were all a little bit tired and drained from the amazing party that we threw the night before with Carmera, but that didn't stop us from coming to a provocative insight into the much-discussed autonomous drive "trough of disillusionment": behind the ups and downs of public perception, a lot of business and investment in the space continues as usual. Maybe we're actually overhyping the hype cycle?
Our very own Alex Roy talks about his new gig as Director of Special Operations at Argo AI, becoming a father, and how his contributions to The Autonocast (and elsewhere) will change. A brief discussion covering the show's partnerships and ethical considerations ensues, before we begin our CES coverage by talking to... our coverage sponsor! Jeff Kaelin, VP of Product Development at Avis Budget Group, and Jeff Pruse, head of product and customer experience at Zipcar, join the show from an Avis car on the floor at CES to talk about fleet management and the future of car rental.
As another year winds to a close, we look back not just on the last year but on the changes that have swept the autonomous drive technology space from 2016 through 2018. Two years ago, self-driving cars were at the peak of their hype and as we examine the past we discuss what we've learned along the way. Plus, the one and only George Hotz joins in to discuss the return of Mr 2016 himself, Anthony Levandowski, who is back with another autonomous drive startup apparently built (at least in part) on Hotz's open-source technology.
It's not often that the entire Autonocast crew gets fanboyish, but when it comes to Voyage we tend to lose our cool a little. That's because Voyage has built a business that takes into account both autonomy's greatest opportunities to help people and a realistic view of its limitations. By deploying autonomous vehicles in retirement communities, Voyage keeps its system operating in a limited domain while helping people who aren't well-served by cars be more mobile. On this week's show, we are joined by Voyage co-founder and CEO Oliver Cameron, who explains how Voyage grew out of the online university Udacity, how it identified retirement homes as an ideal domain for AVs and where the company is headed.
After catching up on their latest travels and briefly discussing the launch of Waymo One and the release of some intriguing new Waymo research, Ed and Kirsten are joined by Nathaniel Horadam of the Center for Transportation and the Environment to discuss his perspective on the upcoming Uber and Lyft IPOs. A lot is riding on these public offerings, which could be some of the biggest ever seen in the technology world (let alone mobility technology) but which also face some tough questions. Nathaniel walks us through some of his questions about their business model, in particular the issues related to a tightening labor market and rising interest rates, as we try to anticipate the issues that these highly-anticipated IPOs could raise.
Buckle up, kids! We're about to go on an educational journey through an autonomous drive software stack, with a little help from Argo AI. We talk to members of each of Argo's major teams—Mapping, Perception, Prediction, Planning—and learn about how each of them contribute to the autonomous drive system. Along the way we'll learn a little bit about some of the people who are making self-driving cars happen, and what it's like working on this fascinating problem.
On our recent field trip to Pittsburgh's Robocar Row, we were welcomed into the inner sanctum at Argo AI (which is still redolent of "new startup smell") for a frank discussion with the up-and-coming full-stack developer's top brass. CEO Bryan Salesky, President Peter Rander and VP of Robotics Brett Browning took time from their busy schedules to discuss their development and testing regime, building a workplace culture that keeps complex development work moving together, the challenges and opportunities of testing in Pittsburgh and Miami, their conversations with potential partners and much more. Enjoy this exclusive look inside the nuts and bolts of robocar development and stay tuned for an upcoming episode in which Argo takes us on a tour through its stack, from mapping to perception to prediction to planning.
On the latest episode of The Autonocast: Ed is back from his around-the-world car factory tour, Kirsten is about to head to Berlin and Alex is busy reading... Business Insider? The crew gathers around the table for a feast of discussion, ranging from the state of automation in modern car factories to Uber Advanced Technology Group's apparent dysfunction and Elon Musk's new brick business. Plus we preview an upcoming conversation about what's changed in the AV space over the last two years and our visit to Argo AI in Pittsburgh.