Realizing Self-Driving Vehicles
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Chris Urmson, PhD
Director, Self-Driving Car Program, Google
Self-driving vehicles will save lives, save time, and offer mobility to those who otherwise don’t have it. Eventually they will reshape the way we live in, and move through, our communities and cities.
A dedicated team at Google has spent the last five years moving self-driving vehicles closer to a reality. New algorithms, increased processing power, innovative sensors, and massive amounts of data enable these vehicles to see further, understand more, and handle a wide variety of challenging driving scenarios.
Google’s vehicles have driven over one million miles on highways and suburban and urban streets. Through this journey, Dr. Chris Urmson and his team have learned a lot—not just about how to drive, but about interacting with drivers, users, and others on the road, and about what it takes to bring incredibly complex system to fruition.
During this talk, Urmson will share some fun stories and lessons, along with Google’s vision for how these vehicles will become a reality.
This event is part of Volpe's newest thought leadership series, Beyond Traffic 2045: Reimagining Transportation. This series will inform the ongoing national dialogue on Beyond Traffic, U.S. DOT’s 30-year framework for the future.
Attend the Event
Join us via webinar or in person.
About the Speaker
Chris Urmson leads Google’s self-driving car program, where the team’s vehicles have driven over one million miles.
Prior to joining Google, Urmson was on the faculty of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, where his research focused on motion planning and perception for robotic vehicles. During his time at Carnegie Mellon, he worked with house size trucks, drove robots around in deserts, and served as the Director of Technology for the team that won the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge.
Urmson earned his PhD in 2005 from Carnegie Mellon and his BSc in computer engineering from the University of Manitoba in 1998.
About Volpe's Beyond Traffic 2045: Reimagining Transportation series:
What will transportation look like 10, 20, or 30 years from now? Be part of Volpe’s newest speaker series—Beyond Traffic 2045: Reimagining Transportation—to delve into the trends that will transform transportation.
This series will continue the conversation started by Beyond Traffic, the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) framework for a frank discussion about the shape, size, and condition of our transportation system.
Beyond Traffic 2045: Reimagining Transportation will kick off September 18 with a special video introduction from U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, followed by opening remarks from Gregory D. Winfree, DOT Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology.
Speakers and Dates
The following speakers will bring to Volpe their unique perspectives on how transportation will change over the coming decades:
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Andrew McAfee, PhD, principal research scientist and co-founder of the Initiative on the Digital Economy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-author of The Second Machine Age
Friday, September 18, 2015
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Edward L. Bolton Jr., assistant administrator for NextGen, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. DOT
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
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Donald L. Fisher, PhD, principal technical advisor, engineering research psychologist, at Volpe, U.S. DOT, and professor and former head of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
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John A. Cavolowsky, PhD, director of the Airspace Operations and Safety Program at the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
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John B. Heywood, PhD, professor of mechanical engineering and Sun Jae Professor, Emeritus, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thursday, November 5, 2015
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Harry Lightsey, executive director of Global Connected Customer at General Motors
Thursday, November 12, 2015
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Kaigham (Ken) J. Gabriel, PhD, president and CEO of The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
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Anthony Townsend, PhD, senior research scientist at New York University, fellow at the Data and Society Research Institute, and author of Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
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Chris Urmson, director of the Self-Driving Car Program at Google
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Complex Transportation Challenges
Our transportation system faces unprecedented challenges:
- In the next 30 years, the U.S. population is expected to grow by more than 20 percent to 390 million people.
- The specific transportation needs of people over age 65 will become more pressing, as that age group will increase by nearly 80 percent in the coming decades.
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Our population is shifting to the south, to the west, and to 11 megaregions that represent more than 75 percent of our population and employment. - Our economy is also growing, with some forecasts anticipating future growth rates at 115 percent. As the American economy grows, the amount of freight moving across our transportation network will increase significantly, along with the global demand for products from the U.S.
- At the same time, our climate is changing. The frequency of super storms, higher temperatures, and higher sea levels will all present complex challenges.
What does a safer, more resilient, and more efficient transportation system look like? What will this mean for the nation and society?
Bring your imaginations and join us via webinar or in person for this important discussion.
Remember to regularly check our Events page and Twitter feed[external link] for updates on speakers, dates, and topics.
- See more at: http://www.volpe.dot.gov/events/reimagining-transportation-speaker-series#sthash.bCnkWjFV.dpuf
- December 01, 2015 at 12:00pm – 1pm
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Volpe, The National Transportation Systems Center U.S. Department of Transportation
55 Broadway Kendall Sq
Cambridge, MA 02142
United States
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