CEO Chris Urmson Says Aurora Is 'Building the Driver' for Driverless Cars
*By Carlo Versano*
The Consumer Electronics Show, the birthplace of such game-changing tech products as the camcorder, which debuted in 1981, or the tablet as recently as 2010, more closely resembles a futuristic auto-show these days. At this stage, self-driving car technology has become the real reason to visit the Vegas trade event.
Among the attendees at this year's CES was Aurora, a startup building autonomous driving technology, backed by some of the top talent in the field.
Aurora CEO Chris Urmson, who co-founded the company with a former Tesla ($TSLA) engineer and robotics expert, told Cheddar's Hope King that Aurora was "building the driver" for driverless cars.
That means engineering the software, sensors, and data services that will allow autonomous vehicles to travel from point A to point B efficiently and safely.
Autonomous cars "will ultimately be the world's safest driver," said Urmson, who was previously the CTO for Google's Waymo unit. But first, he said, they must have the technology to understand the world around them, anticipate what's happening next, and then navigate through it. That involves building mapping technology that will eventually allow a car to navigate a new city with the same, or better, "knowledge" that drivers have of the streets of their hometowns.
LiDAR, which uses lasers to plot distances and make 3D replicas of surroundings, is critical to this mapping but remains among the biggest cost barriers for self-driving technology. Urmson told Cheddar he believes LiDAR prices, which are tied to commodities and "nothing magical," will drop as scale is achieved.
Safety is ultimately a statistics game, Urmson said: "You want the rate at which bad things happen to be really low."
But it's also highly susceptible to the public's perception, which is why Urmson also came to CES ー to help announce PAVE, a new coalition of experts and institutions that will work to educate the public about what many tech evangelists believe will likely be among the most important technological advances in modern history.
Urmson said, which has been focused on the dangers of autonomy rather than the huge potential benefits, in his view. There's also confusion as to what true autonomy really meansー where passengers can "lean back and have a nap" ー versus driver assistance software like Tesla's Autopilot, which PAVE will work to explain.
Urmson believes the public conversation has been focused too heavily on the dangers of autonomy rather than the huge potential benefits, in his view. There's also confusion as to what true autonomy really meansー where passengers can "lean back and have a nap" ー versus driver assistance software like Tesla's Autopilot, which PAVE will work to explain.
"We're trying to help clear up the dialogue."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-aurora-is-working-to-accelerate-autonomous-driving).
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
Starbucks’ AI barista aims to speed service and improve experience. Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune Business Editor, explains its impact on workers and customers.
As Big Tech reports Q3 earnings, investors await proof that massive AI and cloud investments from Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet are driving real growth.
