Oliver Cameron (CEO, Voyage) - MIT Self-Driving Cars

TL;DR

Oliver Cameron, CEO of Voyage, shares the inside story of how their self-driving car startup came to be and their unique approach to building autonomous vehicles.

Transcript

all right welcome back to 6 s0 9 for deep learning for self-driving cars today we have Oliver Cameron is the co-founder and the CEO of voyage before that he was the lead of the Udacity self-driving car program that made ideas an autonomous vehicle research and development accessible to the entire world he has a passion for the topic and a genuine o... Read More

Key Insights

• 🚘 Oliver Cameron, the CEO of Voyage, shares the unconventional journey of starting a self-driving car startup and emphasizes the importance of learning by doing and building.
• 💻 Voyage partnered with industry experts to create a world-class curriculum on self-driving cars, focusing on different disciplines and providing students with the breadth of knowledge needed to excel in the field.
• 🎓 The curriculum is designed to help individuals transition from being intermediate software engineers to becoming experts in self-driving cars, covering perception, prediction, planning, localization, controls, and more.
• 🚗 Voyage built an actual self-driving car to prove to students that they know what they're doing and to collaborate with them on developing the technology further. They achieved a major milestone of driving 32 miles with zero disengagements.
• 💡 Voyage focuses on serving retirement communities as their initial target market due to slower speeds, simpler roadways, and specific transportation challenges faced by seniors. They aim to introduce a new way for seniors to explore their communities through autonomous ride-sharing.
• 📊 The senior market represents a massive transportation market, with millions of senior citizens and thousands of retirement communities across the United States.
• 💼 Voyage has an exclusive license to operate an autonomous vehicle service in The Villages, one of the largest retirement communities with over 125,000 residents. They also partner closely with these communities and provide equity in exchange for the exclusive license.
• 👍 Voyage has received positive feedback from residents of retirement communities and is committed to delivering a reliable and tailored transportation service for senior citizens.
• ⭐ Voyage uses a combination of sensors, including high-resolution lidar and cameras, to perceive the world around them. They focus on building a reliable perception system to ensure accurate detection and planning for objects in the environment.
• 📚 Voyage actively engages with the autonomous driving ecosystem and partners with companies working on different parts of the self-driving technology stack, including simulation, mapping, and middleware.
• 💯 Oliver Cameron highlights the importance of hiring the best talent and building a diverse team, as well as continuously learning and adapting in a fast-paced industry like self-driving cars.
• 🛡 Voyage works with insurance companies to develop new insurance models for autonomous vehicles and uses data from their vehicles to assess and inform insurance rates.
• 🌍 The ultimate goal for self-driving cars is to achieve perfect perception, where there are no false negatives and all objects in the environment are accurately detected and tracked.
• 🌧️ While weather conditions such as hurricanes may pose challenges, Voyage implements remote operation and relies on a network of operators to ensure the safe operation of their vehicles during adverse weather events. They are also exploring weather forecasting and microclimate analysis to optimize operations.
• ✨ Oliver Cameron concludes by encouraging individuals not to be intimidated, to leverage the power of partnerships, and to embrace curiosity as they work towards building a driverless future.

Questions & Answers

Q: What was the motivation behind Oliver Cameron starting Voyage, a self-driving car startup?

Oliver Cameron's inspiration for founding Voyage came from his experience teaching online classes in self-driving cars through Udacity. He wanted to make autonomous vehicle technology more accessible and decided to start his own company to build self-driving cars.

Q: How did Voyage build its self-driving car curriculum?

Voyage partnered with industry experts to create a comprehensive curriculum that covered all aspects of self-driving car technology, including perception, prediction, planning, localization, and controls. The curriculum was designed to provide students with a broad knowledge base and the skills to contribute across the entire self-driving stack.

Q: Why did Voyage choose to focus on retirement communities for deploying their self-driving technology?

Retirement communities offered a unique opportunity for Voyage to deploy their self-driving technology in a controlled and simpler environment. The slower speeds, calmer roadways, and specific transportation challenges in these communities made them an ideal starting point for autonomous vehicles.

Q: How does Voyage address liability insurance for passengers in their self-driving cars?

Voyage has partnered with intact insurance to provide coverage and determine rates based on the data collected from their self-driving cars. The insurance rates may vary depending on the complexity of the environment and the level of autonomy required in a particular location.

Q: What is one of the unsolved problems in self-driving cars that Voyage is currently working on?

One of the challenges Voyage is focused on is improving perception in self-driving cars, particularly when it comes to detecting and classifying objects like foliage, shadows, and other edge cases. They are exploring different approaches, including deep learning algorithms, to minimize false negatives and enhance the accuracy of object identification.

Q: How has Voyage addressed the concerns and skepticism from potential users in retirement communities?

Voyage found that senior citizens in retirement communities were actually open and curious about self-driving cars. They saw the technology as an extension of the cars they were already familiar with and were interested in the potential benefits, such as increased mobility and independence. Voyage has focused on delivering a tailored product for seniors and building trust through open communication and transparency.

Q: What is the role of remote operators in Voyage's self-driving cars?

Remote operators play a crucial role in ensuring the safe operation of Voyage's self-driving cars. They have live access to the vehicle's camera feeds and can intervene if necessary, such as during extreme weather conditions or other unforeseen situations. Remote operators act as the eyes and ears of the self-driving cars, providing an added layer of safety and oversight.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Oliver Cameron shares the unconventional journey of Voyage, a self-driving car startup, and how they started by offering online classes in self-driving cars through Udacity.

• Voyage built a curriculum focused on machine learning and robotics to train students in self-driving technology.

• They also built their own self-driving car and successfully drove it from Mountain View to San Francisco without any disengagements.

• Voyage now focuses on deploying their self-driving technology in retirement communities, where they see a clear market and the opportunity to address transportation challenges faced by seniors.