Dr. Vlad Pop is a research scientist in the human systems engineering at Georgia Tech who spends his days working on the complex problems associated with vehicle automation. In this first episode of America On Wheels Presents, Dr. Pop sheds light on the realities of self driving cars versus the click bait and fluff articles commonly seen in our Facebook “news” feeds.
We discuss the levels of autonomy and the technology currently available as well as the road blocks that the path to fully driverless cars will see. We compare the adoption of autonomous vehicles to the adaption of automatic elevators, the length at which it took people to ride an elevator like we have today will surprise you, and discuss what the auto industry will learn from the aviation industry as we get closer to taking our hands completely off the wheel and relaxing during our morning commute.
Please enjoy this in-depth conversation about the future of driving and let us know what you think by subscribing and downloading our podcast on iTunes and commenting.
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This podcast is brought to you by Highline Imports. Highline generously allowed us to use their Tesla Model S for the weekend and play with level 2 autonomous functions first hand. The Model S isn’t the only toy in Highline’s fleet, they have over 100 sports and luxury cars available and ship all over the world. You can check out their inventory by visiting highlineimports.com.
Selected Links from the Episode
- Connect with Dr. Pop on LinkedIn
- SAE International levels of autonomous driving
- Remembering When Driverless Elevators Drew Skepticism
- Self Driving Cars are Learning from GTA V
- Pittsburgh’s self driving Ubers
- Uber’s Self-Driving Executive Leaves Company
- Tesla Model X Predicts Crash
- Carl Renner
- Family playing Scrabble in their car
- Comma.ai
- Pizza delivery robots
- Firefox
Show Notes
- Who is Dr. Vlad Pop [2:45]
- The levels of autonomous driving [4:36]
- The adoption of automatic elevators [7:30]
- Why do we still have pilots [9:15]
- Roadblocks to autonomous driving [11:00]
- Autonomous abuse and the social aspects of driving [12:05]
- GTA V logic and certification [16:08]
- Autonomous vehicles vs. deer [17:29]
- Google pushes back from level 5 [19:35]
- Getting comfortable with autonomy [21:00]
- Who would fly without a pilot [22:44]
- Ubers losses and dreams [25:27]
- The technology behind autonomous driving [27:15]
- How to see through cars [29:40]
- Why do we want automation anyway [31:25]
- Self drifting cars [33:30]
- Autonomous branding [34:49]
- How will autonomy affect how we use land [38:57]
- Tractor trailers, platooning, and integration [41:40]
- Highly trained pilots vs. your average person behind the wheel [42:48]
- Hackers and tuners [44:50]
- Retrofitting autonomous technology onto cars from the 30’s [47:35]
- Will we control cars with our thoughts [52:36]