In only its second year of existence, Autonowashing continues to make inroads on the public consciousness in part due to the work of people like Mahmood Hikmet. The Kiwi AV engineer made an incredible Youtube video breaking down the complex issues around partial automation and autonowashing like nobody had before, and he joins the show to discuss his work, and what he's trying to accomplish with it.
Mobility-focused venture capitalist Olaf Sakkers has been a friend of the show for a long time, which is the only reason Kirsten, Alex and Ed agreed to read something called "The Mobility Disruption Framework." We're glad we did though, because Sakkers is far from the kind of empty-headed, buzzword-spouting consultant who has given "mobility disruption" a bad name. Olaf joins this week's episode to explain his funny, insightful book about the trends and technologies transforming the ways we get around, which you can read for yourself at www.yellow.cab.
If the last decade or so of mobility technology tells us anything, it's that putting a camera on a vehicle unlocks a whole world of new opportunities. Our guest this week, Drover AI co-founder and Chief Business Officer Alex Nesic, did precisely that with on-demand scooters and he joins the show to explain the new possibilities his company has unleashed. From regulatory compliance to safety-enhancing ADAS-like features, we discuss the ways that a camera can address some of the biggest challenges that shared scooters present.
Big moves raise strategic questions this week, as Mobileye starts testing in New York, Aurora heads to Wall Street by way of Reid Hoffman's SPAC, and a Financial Times trend piece raises questions about the relationship of ADAS to AV strategy. From the traffic impact of privately-owned AVs to the public's ability to invest in the technology and the wisdom of calling automated driving systems a "driver," Alex, Kirsten and Ed chew through some of the sector's biggest questions in another classic discussion episode.
Public perceptions of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems have been dominated by Tesla's Autopilot, which presents itself as the most advanced Level 2 system by virtue of being more automated than others. But is more automation always better for driver assistance? Seeking answers, Alex and Ed sit down with Nick Sitarski and Derek Caveney of Toyota Motor North America, to understand how Toyota's long-standing principle of jidoka, or human-centered automation, has taken its Teammate ADAS design in a different direction.
With Kirsten out exploring the western wilds, Alex and Ed run amok and revert to their old habits of spending way too much time discussing Tesla. First up, the lads review the latest NHTSA order to report all ADAS and AV-involved crashes, which doesn't mention Tesla specifically but is clearly very much aimed at that company. Further discussion ensues about Andrej Karpathy's recent CVPR talk, the new Plaid Model S's absurd performance and even more absurd user interface.
Everyone has a strategy for the electric, autonomous mobility era, and the gang regularly discusses private sector strategies, but what about nation state competition for the future of transportation? Alex, Kirsten and Ed are joined by Nathan Picarsic of Horizon Advisory to dissect the evolution of China's industrial strategy, from traditional automotive to EVs to AVs and beyond. From Tesla's unique factory deal and recent publicity issues to China's domination of the EV supply chain, geopolitical competition meets mobility technology in this wide-ranging discussion.
The gang discusses a couple of Kirsten's recent scoops that speak to the complex business challenges the autonomous vehicle space is currently negotiating. From Raquel Urtasun's new startup to Aurora (and others) plans to go public, the big players are making some very high-stakes bets about how the sector will shake out. Plus: Tesla loses a top executive, Alex is fair and balanced, and everyone hates the phrase "solving autonomy."
Transit advocates have made autonomous vehicles something of a boogeyman lately, framing the emerging technology as a way to perpetuate the car's mobility monopoly and starve public transit of funding. In reality, transit is one of the most compelling applications and automation is a huge opportunity to dramatically improve public transit. To help explain this opportunity, Nathaniel Horadam of the Center for Transportation and the Environment joins the show to discuss a light-rail style automated bus rapid transit project he's been working on, and the automated transit opportunity more broadly.