PAVEcast: “Driverless Car, Horseless Carriage: Seeing AVs Beyond the Car”

Throughout history, humans have seen new technologies through the lens of what came before – such as when the first cars were called “horseless carriages.”  As the technology advances, of course, these terms seem absurd in hindsight. 

Autonomous vehicles face this challenge today, as many of the most common misperceptions of this technology, and its possible futures, trace back to thinking of them purely as cars that happen to drive themselves. 

In this PAVEcast episode, we’ll start to recognize how our understanding of cars shapes our view of AVs. Our panelists will discuss the important lessons this influence filters out, why “driverless cars” are actually just one of many applications of autonomous technology, and how to start building a mental model for AVs that frees us from this subconscious constraint.

Panelists

• Adam Campbell – Senior Manager, Safety Innovation and Impact, Gatik
• John Lenneman, Ph.D. – Senior Principal Engineer, Collaborative Safety Research Center, Toyota Motor North America
• Joseph Putney – VP of Commercial Systems, RR.AI

Moderator

• Tabitha Colter - Director of Operations, PAVE