How Self-Driving Trucks Will Change The World with Robert Brown and Jon Panzer: An EOFire Classic from 2021

From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2020. Our interviews on Entrepreneurs On Fire are meant to be evergreen, and we do our best to confirm that all offers and URL's in these archive episodes are still relevant.

Mr. Brown is responsible for the federal, state, and local public and government relations for TuSimple. Working with legislators and regulators on best practices for safety, commercial viability, and policies. He works on building coalitions of industry, OEMs, Tier 1 providers, associations, and academics in the autonomous vehicle industry. Prior to TuSimple, he worked for the state of California, was Vice President at the Mitchell Firm, taught at Oxford University and University of California, San Diego.

Jon Panzer is the Senior Vice President of Technology & Strategic Planning at the Union Pacific Railroad. Jon has been an influential leader across UP for the last 24 years.

Top 3 Value Bombs

1. The transportation industry isn’t as exciting as technology and aerospace. There’s a lot of technology involved, movement, and being more sophisticated with e-commerce as consumers demand an interest change.

2. Get excited about automation. Be open minded. Realize that it is not tomorrow - change is incremental. As we go on in our lives, there will be more automated kiosks and robots in the streets. Automation is here. As a country and as a society, it is key to keep us moving forward.

3. Logistics is about getting goods to where they need to be. It’s from the beginning of the manufacturing process to warehousing and then distribution to stores and e-commerce where people make a purchase. Logistics makes sure that all of that happens behind the scenes without hiccups.

Connect with Robert on LinkedIn - Robert's LinkedIn