Delivering the Benefits of Self-Driving Technology Safely, Quickly, and Broadly

Abstract

We are in a new era of mobility. Synergistic changes within the automotive industry are occurring simultaneously that have the potential to reduce important social costs: electric cars, ride sharing, and self-driving technology. The introduction of self-driving vehicles is the most technologically complex and the most far-reaching in its consequences; however, the question is no longer “Will we ever live in a world with self-driving vehicles?” but rather it’s “How quickly will they be here and what will our lives be like when they are?” Across the industry, what we endeavor to achieve is transcendent; we are developing a computing system to perform the task of transporting and keeping safe our most precious asset: human lives. Self-driving vehicles will make the roads safer, make mobility accessible to more people, and reduce congestion and pollution in cities, thus improving the quality of life for all. Aurora approaches the challenge of designing and building self-driving vehicles as an applied science problem, not as conventional product development. The fundamental technical challenges of bringing self-driving cars into the world are related to solving hard science problems. We must look at the world dynamically, as the complex and nuanced system of behaviors and objects that it is. As a result, Aurora is taking a clean start to building self-driving technology safely and quickly, for the public to benefit it from broadly.