Summary
In the Season 1 Ep.18 of The Robot Brains Podcast, Chris Urmson, the CEO of Aurora, discusses his experiences and insights on self-driving technology with Peter, the interviewer. Chris Urmson is a leading pioneer in self-driving technology who led the Google self-driving project for several years and was part of the CMU team in the DARPA autonomous driving challenges.
He shares his experiences participating in the DARPA Grand Challenge, a desert race where the vehicle had to drive across the desert at 50 miles per hour. His team had two Humvees with different strategies, one going a bit faster and the other being more cautious. Despite the setbacks, the team managed to finish the race with five vehicles. The DARPA Grand Challenge catalyzed the use of HD mapping technology and machine learning in the field of robotics.
Chris also discusses his current project, Aurora, which is founded on the principle of partnership to solve transportation on a larger scale. Aurora's mission is to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly. The company works with partners in the vehicle manufacturing industry, including Pack R, Volvo, and Toyota, to enable them to access new economic opportunities and improve their businesses.
Trucking is the right first application for self-driving technology as it has more structure to the environment and higher economic opportunity compared to moving people. Chris states that the company is now capable of sensing far enough to solve high-speed driving, thanks to the addition of lidar frequency modulated continuous-wave radar and computer vision technology.
Furthermore, Chris goes into detail about the business of self-driving and the business of safety systems. He explains the difference between automated driver assistance systems and fully autonomous systems, citing limitations in the former as it must assist a driver while ensuring accuracy and low false positive rates. The challenge of ensuring safety in self-driving cars is mainly a game of statistics, but maps can provide significant benefits for driving accuracy, even with minor inaccuracies.
Finally, Chris discusses Aurora's recent announcement of going public via a SPAC partnership, citing it as a means to bring in the necessary capital to deliver on their mission. The company aims to create value, make transportation more equitable and accessible while saving lives. Chris mentions that the company plans to share their progress and technology with public market investors in an open and transparent manner.
