The Road to Autonomy

Danny Shapiro, Vice President, Automotive, NVIDIA joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss why NVIDIA is the platform for enabling autonomy.The conversation begins with Grayson and Danny discussing how NVIDIA developed the platform for autonomous vehicles and why NVIDIA first entered the automotive market.We’ve created an open platform. It’s an accelerated computing platform for autonomous vehicles. – Danny ShapiroIn 1999, NVIDIA invented the GPU to overcome performance bottlenecks of the CPU.Think of it as lanes on a highway, where a CPU maybe would be a dual-core or quad-core. It would have two lanes or four lanes for data to travel. The GPU has thousands of lanes. A highway with a thousand lanes is going to accommodate a lot more traffic. – Danny ShapiroWith over 370 automakers, tier 1 suppliers, developers, and researchers as partners, NVIDIA is playing a crucial role in ushering in the future of autonomy. A lot more goes into an autonomous vehicle than just the autonomous driving stack. The user experience will be an important element to success and NVIDIA’s GPUs are being used to improve speech recognition in-vehicle.Speech is very complex. You have many different languages. You have different accents. You have the same word that can mean different things, so the context matters. – Danny ShapiroNVIDIA is working on bringing natural language processing to the edge with the goal of reducing latency and improving the user experience inside of the vehicle. As an example, Danny shared the following scenario:You could say it’s warm and the car would respond, do you want me to turn on the AC or roll down your window? You can say, I will roll down the window. The car will also be able to recognize was it the driver or the passenger speaking.That’s a multi-modal approach where we are using AI on the voice and also with a camera inside that can monitor the occupants, read lips and determine who was talking. It would roll down the appropriate window based on who was speaking. – Danny ShapiroThis is the future of in-vehicle experiences and Mercedes, through a partnership with NVIDIA, is beginning to deploy the early stages of this technology in their new flagship 2022 EQS sedan. In the future when SAE Level 4 autonomous vehicles become available, the inside of the vehicle could become an interactive gaming experience.Integrating the motion of the vehicle with what is happening in virtual reality can be a really amazing experience. – Danny ShapiroIn the interior of SAE Level 4 autonomous vehicles, window glass will become augmented and screens will be ubiquitous, suggests Grayson. This new digital real estate will allow brands to create bespoke experiences for paying passengers, creating new potential revenue streams.Disney is an example of a brand that stands to benefit as it can extend the “Disney Experience” into the vehicle. Grayson shares an example of how Disney can potentially create Star Wars autonomous vehicles to further enhance the new Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser two-night immersive experience at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.The same technology that is used to develop immersive experiences is used to develop autonomous vehicles — simulation. With DeepMap joining NVIDIA, DeepMap’s maps will be used to enhance NVIDIA’s simulation technology.Through simulation, we can train the vehicle to be smarter. – Danny ShapiroInside of NVIDIA, there is one centralized engineering organization, which has many benefits as engineers are able to learn from each other and apply processing techniques to different industries from autonomous driving to health care.If you look at something like autonomous driving where we are taking images from front-facing cameras and trying to detect pedestrians, our health care group and the work they are doing in medical imaging and cancer research leverages a lot of that same technology. Because if you do a scan, an MRI, an X-Ray, you are looking for cancer cells. It’s not that different to process from what we are doing with pedestrian detection.  – Danny ShapiroWith NVIDIA’s core approach towards engineering and solving the world’s biggest challenges through compute, the company was busy simultaneously building an autonomous trucking business at the same time they were building their automotive business. Today, NVIDIA has 15 truck partners to complement its 370+ automotive industry partners.We are not building the trucks, we are not building the cars, but we are helping our customers do their life’s work and create amazing products. – Danny ShapiroWrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Danny discuss NVIDIA’s data center strategy and the advantage for autonomous vehicle and trucking companies to build autonomy solutions on the NVIDIA platform.Recorded on Tuesday, August 10, 2021--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lee Redden, Chief Scientist & Co-Founder Blue River Technology and Chief Scientist of the Intelligent Solutions Group at John Deere joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss how See & Spray can help farmers optimize farms.The conversation begins with talking about growing up in Nebraska and how having a shop at the back of his house would have a profound impact on his life.We had a shop on the back of my house and I would spend 4 or 5 hours a day in the back of the shop just putting things together. I built a couple of go-karts, I built a car, I just have so many fond memories of just being back there welding something up, grinding something down, and building. – Lee ReddenLee’s hands-on experiences in the shed led to him enrolling at the University of Nebraska where he designed microcircuit boards for miniature surgical robots. During his time on campus, Lee watched a documentary about the DARPA Grand Challenge. Little did Lee know at the time, but the documentary would change his life.One of the things growing up in Nebraska, I wasn't really exposed to a lot of computer science. What that documentary did was show that there was this computer science group that was basically taking a stock car and adding a couple of sensors to it, but not putting too many sensors on it.Then it was a computer science problem and it really kind of paved and showed me the way for what was possible with computer science in an area that I thought was really cool and was cars and autonomy and I just saw that as like oh my gosh if you can make this car do things it couldn’t do before, it just becomes so much more useful. Totally game-changing in the possibilities. – Lee ReddenThe documentary exposed Lee to the possibilities of machine learning, computer vision, and AI. Eventually, he enrolled at Stanford to learn computer vision.I knew this is what I needed to do to really get up to speed to work in the field I wanted to. – Lee ReddenAt Stanford, the seeds were planted for the founding of Blue River Technology when Lee met his co-founder, Jorge Heraud. From autonomous lawnmowers to the autonomous weeding of carrots to the thinning of lettuce. Lee and Jorge kept pivoting until they had their breakthrough moment with high-precision weeding machines.During the early days of See & Spray, farmers provided invaluable feedback on the system as it was rolled out to farms in the United States. With feedback from farmers in hand, Blue River began to test in different geographies to build the data sets that are required to fully optimize the system.The diversity of data you have really matters. – Lee ReddenIn 2017, John Deere acquired Blue River Technology. Being part of John Deere is allowing Blue River to take a longer-term view on the development of the technology.It has been really fantastic for the company to be able to have that longer-term view. – Lee ReddenAfter the acquisition, Lee took a step back to focus on control systems.We will see shifts in machine form and how machines are designed and put together based on control systems. – Lee ReddenWhile control systems are next, Lee is still dedicated to See & Spray. With an estimated 250 species of herbicide-resistant weeds, uncontrolled weeds result in annual losses of approximately $43 billion in corn and soybean crops, Blue River is using their computer vision technology to identify the weeds to help farmers save money when they use the See & Spray system.The See & Spray system reduces the number of herbicides used by 77%, having a positive economic impact on farms and a positive impact on the environment.Higher precision and plant by plant care is a win, win, win situation. – Lee ReddenWrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Lee discuss the global population growth and how automation on farms can help feed the growing global population.Recorded on Tuesday, July 27, 2021---------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alan Ohnsman, Senior Editor, Forbes joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss the public mobility markets. From SPACs to Tesla to traditional IPOs, Grayson and Alan discuss the current state of the public mobility markets, electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and autonomous trucking.The conversation begins with Alan and Grayson discussing the current state of the SPAC market.SPAC activity in both the EV and AV space is just astonishing. I think there is an increasing concern about the quality of some of these offerings. Not all companies are created equal. Not all startups are the same. – Alan OhnsmanAs the SPAC market matures and companies begin the process of de-spacing, issues around the business models and the strength of the balance sheet are being to come into question. A major issue with SPACs is the lack of disclosure as compared to a traditional IPO. We are seeing this very issue play out today with Lordstown Motors as they are under investigation by the Department of Justice over the pre-order numbers of their vehicles.Alan points out the lack of disclosures will lead to increased regulation.The amount of investor litigation aimed at some of these companies is going to be high. I think it’s inevitable that the regulator is going to step in and say slow your roll. We really need to vet these a little more carefully and set some better ground rules. – Alan OhnsmanTesla which went public in 2010 continues to dominate the public electric vehicle market while capturing the public’s imagination.There is going to be so much competition in the EV space that Telsa has a first-mover advantage. The brand is well established. It is clearly popular in many markets. – Alan OhnsmanWhile Tesla is dominating the electric vehicle market today, Toyota is well poised to gain market share in the future. As the economics of electric vehicles improve and electric vehicle charging becomes more readily available, the market is going to change as Toyota and Hyundai move into the market.With the lack of electric vehicle charging around the United States, Grayson raises the point that hybrid vehicles will become the dominant vehicle type sold over the next 10 years. This is where Toyota wins as they are the clear leader in hybrid technology. Until we achieve ubiquitous electric vehicle charging, consumers will be unsure about adopting and embracing EVs.Ubiquitous charging. It has to be everywhere and people have to know where it is. It has to be a no-brainer. – Alan OhnsmanShifting the conversation back to autonomous vehicles, Grayson asks Alan about the Aurora SPAC and specifically highlights one of the risk factors in the investor presentation:We operate in a highly competitive market and some market participants have substantially greater resources. If one or more of our competitors commercialize their self-driving technology before we do, develop superior technology, or are perceived to have better technology, it could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations.This risk factor is a clear reference to Waymo, which continues to raise billions of dollars.The amount of funding for [autonomous vehicles] is enormous. Just astonishing. – Alan OhnsmanBoth Aurora and Waymo are focused on developing a universal driver which can drive a robo-taxi and an autonomous truck. As Aurora begins life as a public company, investors and analysts could begin to question the universal driver approach due to economics and the business model.The same can be said for Waymo if and when Alphabet spins out Waymo as a publicly-traded company. If this was to happen, investors would have the opportunity to invest in a pure-play. Waymo for the robo-taxi market and Waymo Via for the logistics market.The money maker in the near term certainly is going to be trucking and logistics. No question about it. That is going to be where everyone makes their money at the outset. – Alan OhnsmanWith the iShares US Transportation ETF ($IYT) having returned 15.16% YTD (as of Monday, July 19, 2021), Grayson asks Alan when will we see an autonomous trucking company added to the index. Alan believes by 2023 we will start to see autonomous trucking companies added to the index. Those companies could be TuSimple and Waymo.Staying on the 2023 theme, Alan discusses why this could be the year that autonomous trucking becomes a two-horse race between TuSimple and Waymo. With TuSimple and Waymo’s growing fleets of autonomous trucks, the companies are well poised for the future.Fielding an ever-larger fleet is important. You can do a lot on modeling in computer simulation, but having physical fleets and getting real-world data day-in and day-out, it’s really hard to substitute that. – Alan OhnsmanWhile fielding an ever-larger fleet is critically important, having real-world experience and hiring individuals from the trucking industry is also one of the keys to success. Another key is understanding the global supply chain and the impact that the driver shortage is having on the global economy.The habits of consumers are shifting to e-commerce as Adobe is projecting that global e-commerce sales will reach $4.2 trillion this year. As consumers shift their habits to ordering online, this creates new opportunities for companies to serve the growing demand for the delivery of goods. Uber’s EATS business is booming as the business is now a $50 billion business.You want to go where the money is. – Alan OhnsmanThis raises the question of, does Uber one day shut down the passenger ride business to focus solely on delivery and logistics? It’s an interesting question with a lot of what if’s. But one thing is for certain, Dara Khosrowshahi will make the hard decisions that ultimately benefit the business. What we do know today is that the consumer appetite for delivery is only going to grow.Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Alan discuss the 2028 Summer Olympics and what the transportation network will look like in Los Angeles.Recorded on Tuesday, July 20, 2021--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alex Roy, Director of Special Operations Argo AI, Host of The No Parking and Autonocast Podcasts, Editor-at-Large, The Drive, Founder of the Human Driving Association, author of The Driver, and Producer of APEX: The Secret Race Across America joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss why he has always been obsessed with the impossible.The conversation begins with Alex discussing his 2007 U.S. Cannonball Run in a BMW M5 and how he was able to break the record using data.I have always been obsessed with things that people said are impossible. Someone says something is impossible, I want to try it. Or as an investor, I want to invest in it because the future is always built by optimists. – Alex RoyIt was during this time that Alex first learned about mapping and how creating a map with intricate details such as construction zones and potential police hiding places could enable the U.S. Cannonball record to be broken.16, 17 years ago, we created map data sets around road construction, road conditions, police locations, and looked at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) [for] weather, and created a very comprehensive data set and plan. – Alex RoyThe U.S. Cannonball Run changed Alex’s life after the story was published in Wired Magazine. The FBI called and invited Alex to speak at the FBI Academy about how he used free off-the-shelf mapping tools to create datasets to do the impossible – breaking the Cannonball record.With the record broken, the FBI asking how he did it, corporations asking for advice on mapping, an appearance on The Tonight Show with David Letterman, the Alex Roy brand was born.Years later, Alex would meet Bryan Salesky, Co-Founder & CEO of Argo AI. That meeting would change Alex’s life when Bryan asked him how he did it and said the following:So basically you were using for bad all of the technology that we use for good. You have an engineer’s mind but not the education. Have you ever considered how else you might use that knowledge?It was at that moment that Alex put his knowledge to good and joined Argo AI.Very few people in life are lucky enough to have such an opportunity, so I was going to take it. If I had lasted one week, I would have said that was the best week of my life because I could point back and say that was a good thing. – Alex RoyWhile Argo operates as a business, other companies in the industry are solely focused on perfection and not necessarily the business of autonomy. Grayson asks Alex for his thoughts on this trend and what is behind it. Alex emphasizes the importance of studying and understanding history.Every successful technology and business built around it learns from the prior one. Or at least the successful companies do. – Alex RoyLooking at history, Grayson discusses his theory on why autonomous vehicles will become platforms that will enable businesses to build experiences and expand margins. Staying on the history theme, Alex talks about the ascending room and how elevators enabled profitable experiences.[Elevators] were installed by the department stores because as spectacles and experiences the thought was that they would compel or inspire shopping. – Alex RoyCombining an Only in Vegas experience with a mobile gambling platform and an autonomous vehicle, casinos can expand their highly profitable gaming operations into mobility. Grayson and Alex discuss why this could become a product.Each city will have multiple products based on and around the autonomous vehicles. Some may exist today, but what you really want is to create experiences and products around autonomy that don’t exist today. What is the number one lesson in entertainment? Give them something that they can’t get anywhere else and if you can, let them have it twice. – Alex RoyTaking this experience outside of Vegas to cities around the world, this experience will become possible as States continue to legalize online gambling. In the future fans will be able to ride in bespoke autonomous vehicles to sports events. These vehicles will be fully stocked for tailgating with beverages, food, and the ability to gamble. From a safety perspective, fans will no longer be driving home from the game after consuming adult beverages.With the advancements of AR (augmented reality), new experiences will be created in the mobility sector that will turn into new profitable revenue streams for autonomous vehicle companies which operate as platforms. This is the future of the much-rumored Apple Car. The Apple Car will be a platform that allows Apple to expand its fast-growing services business.Airbnb will be another very large player in the autonomous vehicle industry in the future as the company looks to expand its experiences business. The music industry will also benefit as it is an experiences business. On an episode of The No Parking Podcast, Alex and Bryan spoke with Barak Moffitt, Executive Vice President of Content Strategy & Operations, Universal Music Group about combining music with AR to enable in-autonomous vehicle experiences.Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Alex discuss how autonomous vehicles will eliminate friction when attending concerts.Recorded on Thursday, July 15, 2021--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Andy Smart, Safety & Technical Standards Specialist joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss why the data will always set you free when an organization embraces and implements a culture of safety.The conversation begins with Andy talking about the first time he experienced mobility freedom when he got his first bike at age ten in Scotland. Today, Andy rides a fixed-gear bike without brakes as he wants to be in control and fully aware of his surroundings at all times.It’s all about the awareness of your surroundings and your connectivity to your environment. You will never be more connected in that sense when you are riding [a fixed-gear bike without brakes] as you have to be tuned in both from an acoustic point of view, visual and acoustic. – Andy SmartWhen Andy is driving a vehicle he uses the same visual and acoustic tactics that he uses while riding a bike. Once on a cross-country drive from Michigan to California with his wife, Andy overtook a truck as he heard the sound of little pieces of rubber hitting the windshield because it was only a matter of time before the truck tire would blow. Potentially avoiding a crash because he was fully aware of his surroundings.It is all about the feeling. – Andy SmartWhile driving a vehicle or riding a motorcycle or a bike, Andy is always aware of his surroundings.I am looking through the lens of the driver and also the environment and the connection between the two. – Andy SmartTaking a look at the current driving environment, a lot of drivers do not pay attention while driving as they are distracted by their phones. What these drivers fail to realize and what Andy points out very clearly is that a vehicle is a lethal weapon that has to be treated with care and respect.Building upon Andy’s real-world experiences, Grayson shifts the conversation to autonomous vehicles and how Andy approaches AV safety. One of the most important elements of AV safety is the organization’s commitment to safety.The whole basis of a safety culture in an organization is above any business objectives. It has to be you are held to a higher level. Business decisions should not be built around safety. Safety decisions are made because of safety, not through business decisions. – Andy SmartA holistic approach to safety is what is required to develop a culture of safety. It’s an approach that is built around all aspects of the operation and takes into account both off-vehicle and on-vehicle operations. Without a globally recognized safety standard, Grayson asks Andy how AV safety can be measured.As engineers, it is our responsibility to go in and look and to say ok who already does this. Let’s benchmark other industries. We are not unique. We are into some groundbreaking stuff here, but hey would you believe that mining has been automating mining trucks for the last 35 years.Maybe we can learn a bit from them. It’s different but learn, adapt, because as engineers you have to put your hand on your heart and say I did my best and I did everything I could do to find out what was the right way to do it. – Andy SmartWith the advancements of ADAS (advanced driver-assistance systems) and the growing trend of consumers over-relying on SAE Level 2+ systems, Grayson and Andy discuss who is responsible for a crash and what can be done to improve safety.The person who is making the decisions is responsible, they have primary responsibility. – Andy SmartWrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Andy discuss how consumers approach safety. Why dealer training for ADAS is important and the role driver monitoring will play in the future of ADAS.Recorded on Tuesday, July 13, 2021--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and analysis on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy podcast and This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thomas Bamonte, Senior Program Manager, Automated Vehicles, North Central Texas Council of Governments joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss the growing autonomous trucking and autonomous vehicle industries in Texas.The conversation begins with Tom discussing how he first became interested in autonomous vehicles. In 2006, Tom wrote an article about merging the best of highway transportation and transit through autonomous vehicles.Little did Tom know at the time, but this article would go on to have a profound effect on his career. After writing the article, Tom started attending conferences and became one of the earliest individuals discussing the positive impact that autonomy will have on society.Being based in the Dallas Fort Worth Region, Tom has a front-row seat to autonomy as the region is emerging as the home of autonomous trucking. The geographical features of the region are land, land, and more land. With these geographical features, Tom explains why the region has openly embraced autonomous trucking.We are a large inland port and we have to be extra scrappy because we do not have a river or a seaport, we just have land. We have to be extra innovative and extra supportive of our freight partners. – Thomas BamonteThe region is part of the Texas Triangle and the home to DFW (Dallas Fort Worth International Airport) which is a major cargo hub. The airport has a yearly $20 billion economic impact on the North Texas Region. With welcoming State and Regional Governments, a major cargo hub, and freight companies located in the region, the area is well-positioned to fully embrace the future of autonomous trucking.We are well situated at the apex of the Texas triangle to host freight operations. It’s a great central U.S. location where AV freight can reach basically all of the country within a reasonable amount of time. – Thomas BamonteAs the Texas population continues to grow as individuals and families relocate from other States, Grayson asks Tom how the North Central Texas Council of Governments is continuing to drive the economic growth from autonomous vehicle companies relocating to the region.We are investing in our AV 2.0 program. We’re advancing six automated vehicle deployments and we’re moving from thinking of deployments as individual exercises. We are trying to build a regional AV program that has everything from sidewalk delivery bots. We are investing in what may become the nation’s first automated truck port. That is one of the six projects.We are signaling through our investments that we are open for business and willing to effectively partner with our private sector AV developer partners. – Thomas BamonteExpanding the conversation to other regions of Texas, Grayson asks Tom about Argo AI’s deployment in Austin and Nuro’s deployment in Houston.All of the Texas cities are evolving into very diverse AV environments. – Thomas BamonteWhen Drive AI operated a self-driving passenger service for the public in Frisco and Arlington, Texas in 2018 and 2019, they interacted with the community and did outreach to the local community to encourage future engineers to learn about the technology. The community/school outreach program was a tremendous success with Tom summing it up as a Norman Rockwell moment.With the AV 2.0 plan, NCTCOG has partnered with Dallas College to stand up and invest in an AV-oriented curriculum with a focus on trucking and autonomy. Additionally, NCTCOG organized the North Texas Center For Mobility Technologies.We are looking for every opportunity to work with the AV companies to develop the curriculum and engage with the next generation of workers in the transportation and related sectors. – Thomas BamonteShifting the conversation to autonomy and urban environments, Tom shares his thoughts on what autonomous passenger vehicle and delivery deployments will look like in the future.I can see delivery expanding from individual items to experiences and a richer sort of interaction, instead of just having stuff dropped off. – Thomas BamonteWith the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers being located in the Dallas Forth Worth region, there is a tremendous opportunity for bespoke day-of-game autonomous vehicle experiences.Wrapping up the conversation, Tom makes the case on why autonomous vehicle and autonomous trucking companies should consider expanding to Texas.Recorded on Tuesday, June 22, 2021--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Robert Day, Director, Autonomous Vehicles, Arm joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss why the world runs on Arm.The conversation begins with Robert discussing Arm’s partnership approach and how over 190 billion devices around the world contain Arm-based chips.It’s really all about the partnership approach. It’s all about working with our silicon partners and giving them the right technology to allow them to address the different markets they want to put their silicon into. – Robert DayFocusing on Arm’s partnership approach, Robert discusses how Arm was able to ship a record 7.3 billion Arm-based chips in Q4 2020 as the global markets faced a supply chain crunch.Our partners like to work with us because we are continuously innovating. – Robert DayShifting the conversation to autonomous vehicles, Grayson asks Robert when and why did Arm first enter the autonomous vehicle industry. Arm has been in the automotive industry for a long time. Building upon this experience, Arm expanded into the autonomous vehicle industry as companies prepare for the mass deployment of autonomous vehicles as they will need great silicon.As autonomous vehicle companies such as Cruise actively prepare for the commercialization of their service, Grayson asks Robert if custom chip architectures are currently being developed for autonomous vehicles.Whether people will develop custom silicon to do it, I do not know. As they get closer to deployment, it’s what is available. What is out there? It costs a lot of money to develop a custom chip. If our silicon partners have the right SOCs based on our technology, they will probably just pick those up off the shelves.There might be certain applications, there might be certain parts of the vehicle that may be doing sensor intelligence where they might want to do some of their own silicon. At the moment you have to get closer to the actual deployment before it will be obvious which way people will go. – Robert DayTaking a look at the autonomous vehicle industry as a whole, Robert shares his thoughts on the current state of the autonomous vehicle market. The adoption of autonomous vehicles will come down to trust. Grayson and Robert go on to discuss how brands and experiences and help to develop trust with autonomous vehicles.When developing relationships and engaging with the autonomous vehicle industry, Arm asks the following:What do you need in order to make autonomy deployable? Mass deployable. – Robert DayArm has been having these discussions for years as Arm considers autonomous vehicles a growth market.It really is an industry and a market that we want to make sure that Arm is front and center in. – Robert DayAs society begins to shift to electric vehicles and the autonomous vehicle industry embraces electrification, Arm is well-positioned as the company specializes in low-power, high-performance chips.Energy efficiency, thermal efficiency, it will all be really important for deployment. Especially in vehicles that are fit-for-purpose or vehicles that we actually drive as higher levels of autonomy come into them. – Robert DayWith higher levels of autonomy, safety is paramount. Robert discusses Arm’s commitment to functional safety and why it is mission-critical for the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles.Putting the entire conversation into context, Grayson asks Robert what role he sees Arm playing in the autonomous vehicle ecosystem as the industry matures.It’s all about deployability and what’s required for autonomous vehicles to be deployed. – Robert DayWrapping up the conversation, Robert shares the story of how he first became interested in autonomous vehicles. It all started with an episode of Knight Rider. Grayson expands the conversation into the role popular culture will play in the adoption of this technology and why in the future there will be an Elvis autonomous vehicle service in Las Vegas.Recorded on Tuesday, May 25, 2021--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Qasar Younis, CEO & Co-Founder, and Peter Ludwig, CTO & Co-Founder, Applied Intuition joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss simulation and why a simulation first approach to autonomy is key to building and scaling autonomous vehicles.The conversation begins with Qasar talking about what the marketplace looked like when he co-founded Applied Intuition with Peter in 2017. This was the same year that Waymo began testing autonomous minivans in Chandler, Arizona without a safety driver on public roads. Reflecting on this, Peter shares his take on the marketplace.Generally speaking, there is not really winner take all dynamics in the automotive ecosystem. There is always going to be many companies. There are going to be many players, [with] Waymo being sort of in front in autonomy technology. What is great for Applied is that they are showing the world what is possible and that we are building tools which frankly enable any automotive company to compete at that level. – Peter LudwigQasar expands upon this to share his perspective on how the autonomous vehicle industry operated in 2016, 2017.In 2016, 2017 the only pattern was the Waymo pattern. Which is raise tons of money and build everything in-house. That’s just not the case anymore. I do not think there a single sophisticated in-house sim team that isn’t also working with somebody in some capacity that is not inside. – Qasar YounisBuilding upon this, Qasar dives into the economics of build versus buy and why it makes economic sense to buy instead of building in-house simulation tools. With technology advancements over the past four and a half years and new powerful chips being introduced, Applied has been able to close the sim to real gap.You want simulation to be as close as possible to the real-world performance of the system, while still being cost-effective to run. – Peter LudwigAs Applied matures as a company, the company has begun to assume a leadership position in the autonomous vehicle industry. Applied has recently published their Best Practices for The Testing and Deployment of Autonomous Vehicles guide that can be downloaded here.In the guide, Applied summarizes best practices for the testing and development of autonomous vehicles. It is an important guide that can be incorporated into your development workflow today.Our goal of the company is to move the entire autonomy ecosystem forward. – Qasar YounisTaking a step back for a moment, Qasar discusses simulation and references an interview where a Waymo Senior Director of Product Management stated that simulation is roughly responsible for 80 to 85% of their progress.Fundamentally there are many things that you cannot test safely in the real world that are necessary for ensuring the safe operation of the vehicle. You can model those scenarios in simulation. – Peter LudwigIn a 2018 interview with Bloomberg, Peter spoke to Mark Bergen about scenarios. Grayson asks Peter how the team comes up with scenarios to model in simulation. Taking it to a local level, Grayson shares several scenarios and Peter explains how simulation can help to prepare autonomous vehicles for those ODDs (Operational Design Domains).Shifting the conversation from autonomous vehicles to autonomous trucks, Grayson asks Peter what are the main differences between simulation for autonomous vehicles and autonomous trucks. Peter explains in-depth how there is a large difference in the approach to simulation for trucks due to the fact the way trucks are built and how they are driven.While there are different forms of simulation, Applied has been solely focused on autonomy since day one.Fundamentally we think that the autonomous industry will be very, very large. We believe that everything that moves will be autonomous. We want to enable that reality. – Qasar YounisExpanding different forms of simulation, Peter explains how Applied’s simulation platform differs from a system designed to generate images for movies and video games.Wrapping up the conversation, Qasar and Peter discuss why everything that moves will be autonomous.Recorded on Thursday, June 17, 2021.--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Robert Brown, Senior Director of External Affairs, TuSimple, Jordan Coleman, General Counsel & Vice President of Policy, Kodiak Robotics, and Jonny Morris, Head of Public Policy & Communications, Embark Trucks joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss the current state of the autonomous trucking industry.The conversation begins with Robert Brown sharing his thoughts on the current state of the autonomous trucking industry from a policy perspective.We are doing quite well as an industry. It is a testament to the core folks that work in this industry. We work very closely at a State and Local level in all of the States that we operate in. We all come from the adage that we do not like to surprise anyone. – Robert BrownExpanding upon Robert’s comments, Jordan talks about the efforts that are being made around education and building trust with elected officials and regulators.Trust is absolutely paramount in this industry. Showing that deep commitment to engagement on a State, Regional and Local level. As well as that deep commitment to building those relationships first. – Jordan ColemanRounding out the conversation about the current state of autonomous trucking, Jonny shares a detailed overview of policy and the regulatory environment.Even though autonomous trucking is cutting-edge technology, it is an emerging industry. We are not entering into a blank slate from a regulatory environment perspective. There are plenty of requirements, rules, authorities that exist in the trucking industry today. – Jonny MorrisPutting the regulatory environment into perspective, Grayson asks Robert why Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas are emerging as the leading hubs for the testing and deployment of autonomous trucking.It has a lot to do with the regulatory environment. All three States now have legislation on the books that allows [autonomous trucking] testing and deployment. – Robert BrownIn January 2021, Kodiak successfully completed a disengage-free customer delivery from Dallas to Houston, Texas. Grayson asks Jordan how the company prepared for the run from a policy perspective. Jordan explains that before Kodiak started operations in Texas, the company met Governor Abbot’s office, State Legislators in both chambers, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the State Highway Patrol, and regional and local partners.Shifting the conversation to California, Jonny talks about the importance of the California market for autonomous trucks and what the current state of autonomous trucking policy looks like in California. Robert chimes in about his love of living in San Diego and why autonomous trucking will create new high-paying jobs in California.Looking at the priorities of the Governor and the California State Legislature, Jonny explains why the autonomous trucking industry is aligned with California’s goals on climate change and emissions.Automation is something that can be adapted for any drivetrain, whether it’s diesel, natural gas, or electric vehicles. Furthermore what we have seen is that automation can take any drivetrain and make it more efficient because it is a more efficient driver than a human driver. – Jonny MorrisWith the electrification goals of California, Grayson asks Jordan if Class 8 trucks will ever become electric.It’s absolutely a when not an if. – Jordan ColemanAs Jonny and Jordan clearly explained, the autonomous trucking industry is clearly aligned with the goals of California. With California’s unemployment rate currently holding at 8.3%, Robert talks about the positive economic impacts that autonomous trucking will have on the State and the new high-paying jobs that this industry will create.If California does this, it is a true game-changer from an economics perspective. – Robert BrownHighlighting the U.S. Department of Transportation VOLPE Macroeconomic Impacts of Automated Driving Systems in Long-Haul Trucking study as an example, Robert explains why autonomous trucking will create new high-paying jobs and have economic benefits on the U.S. economy.With the industry projected to have a positive economic impact on the U.S. economy the group discusses how the industry interacts with lawmakers and regulators on a federal level. Jonny addresses the misnomers around what the autonomous truck industry does and does not need from a regulatory and legislative standpoint.[There is a misnomer] that this is the wild west and there are no rules for autonomous trucks. The fact of the matter is that the trucking industry is heavily regulated at the federal level. – Jonny MorrisStaying on the theme of misnomers, Jonny, Robert, and Jordan all address the workforce issue and clearly explain that if you are a truck driver today, you can retire a truck driver. There is an enormous need for high-quality truck drivers today partly due to the increase in e-commerce.If you bought it, it’s been on a truck. – Jordan ColemanWith e-commerce projected to grow another 18% in 2021, Robert and Jordan discuss how autonomous trucking is working to shore up the e-commerce supply chain.All commerce is becoming e-commerce. It is all being shipped and it is all being shipped via truck. That only underscores the critical need for this technology. – Jordan ColemanAnother critical need for this technology is for the shipping of fresh fruits and vegetables as The World Bank is projecting the global population to be 9.7 billion by 2050. Jordan, Jonny, and Robert discuss how autonomous trucks can reduce food spoilage and increase access to healthy foods.Wrapping up the conversation, Jonny, Jordan, and Robert share their thoughts on the positive impact that autonomous trucking will have on society.Recorded on Monday, June 14, 2021--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jordan Sun, Chief Innovation Officer, City of San José joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss building better basics in the City of San José through innovation and technology.The conversation begins with Jordan discussing his time serving two tours of duty (2012 and 2020) in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army. Comparing and contrasting his experiences, Jordan talks about his time and what he learned during each tour of duty. During his 2020 tour of duty, Jordan and his team built and shipped a software product from the battlefield.Continuing to serve his country, Jordan serves as a Tech Scout for the U.S. Army where he develops and builds relationships with innovative companies in Silicon Valley.I am interested in all things tech-related. – Jordan SunDuring his stint at the U.S. State Department, Jordan continued to study international relations. Putting all of his skills to work from his time in the military, finance, and diplomacy, Jordan joined the City of San José in 2020 as Chief Innovation Officer to make a difference.What attracted me initially was, the pandemic hit, I spent most of my service overseas when I served. I really didn’t feel like I did enough for the community. Sometimes I would scratch my head and was like well what could I actually do tangibly to change someone’s life in terms of here in America. – Jordan SunAfter his first meeting with the Mayor and being unable to sleep that night, Jordan knew that he had to step up and make a difference for the community of San José.If not me then who, and if it is me, I need to put skin in the game and give it a try. – Jordan SunIn November 2020, The Center for Digital Government announced that the City of San José was named the nation’s most innovative local Government. Being extremely humble, Jordan talks about how it was a team effort to the recognition and how it’s merely just a starting point to where the City wants to go in the future.Looking to the future, Grayson asks Jordan how the City is working to bridge the digital divide. In the latest budget, the Mayor directed $10 million dollars to improve broadband connectivity for residents of San José.With a City of over 1 million residents, Grayson asks Jordan how he is approaching innovation.It’s about getting to more tangible outcomes. – Jordan SunJordan looks at every digital service/website that the City builds as a product and how the residents of San José will interact with it and use the product. This philosophy ties directly into Jordan’s Three Pillars of a Smart City: Data, Digital Product/Engagement, IoT Network which he discusses in depth.Shifting the conversation to mobility, Grayson asks Jordan what role mobility will play in his vision of a City of the Future. Mobility is just not the movement of passengers, it is the moment of goods. Mobility will also have a positive impact on health care as society shifts to autonomous vehicles.With 50 companies currently testing in California, Grayson asks Jordan about the City’s relationship with the autonomous vehicle industry.There is a very healthy relationship. – Jordan SunLooking to the current trend of privacy, Grayson asks Jordan what the City is doing to ensure the privacy of its residents as they embrace and deploy new technologies.We have a foundational privacy policy that protects our residents that lays the groundwork and lays the commitment by the City for us to understand privacy as it pertains to not just surveillance, but overall. – Jordan SunWrapping up the conversation, Jordan discusses the big issues that the City is going to tackle as the world emerges from the global pandemic.Recorded on Friday, May 21, 2021--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.