Thinking in Real Time About our Driverless Future
Two upcoming conversations
Next week and the week after, Changing Lanes will be participating in, and then hosting, two conversations about driverless vehicles. We’ll consider their safety records, their impact on the built environment, and how they might change the world, if we let them.
Autonomous Vehicles & Parking Reform
Thursday, 16 July, 1500h ET
One week from today (at time of writing), I’m joining a panel hosted by the Parking Reform Network (PRN) to ask what urbanists should want out of automated vehicles, and how to move from ‘hope’ to ‘a plan’.
Hosted by the PRN’s Tony Jordan, I’ll join Dr. Miriam Pinski of UCLA’s Shared-Use Mobility Center and Dr. Rachel Weinberger of the Regional Plan Association. The three of us are united in our hopes for better cities, but may be divided in our views on how to get there. Expect a spirited conversation that talks through the policies that would let cities benefit from an AV future, and the consequences if we do nothing.
It’s an online webinar on Zoom, and free to attend. Please register here.
Changing Lanes Live, with Nat Beuse, CSO of Aurora
Thursday, 23 July, 1200h ET
The following week, my guest on the third episode of Changing Lanes Live will be Nat Beuse, Chief Safety Officer of Aurora, the world’s leading driverless-trucking company.
Nat Beuse, image courtesy of Aurora
Few people have seen automated-vehicle safety from as many angles. Beuse spent nearly two decades at NHTSA, where he oversaw the US government’s work on automated driving, then led the safety team at Uber’s self-driving unit, before joining Aurora. We’ll talk about the challenges that face self-driving heavy haulers; the extent to which Aurora’s problems resembles those of robotaxi companies, and the unique challenges the firm faces; the foundation of the firm’s sterling safety record; and how the world will change if Aurora’s vision comes true.
Subscribers to Changing Lanes will be notified when we go live, but please do sign up in advance here.