As the world’s only fully autonomous racing competition, the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) series defies industry boundaries through connecting and advancing autonomous technology, STEM education, and racing. During the series of challenges, university teams from around the world compete to increase the safety and performance of fully autonomous vehicles using advanced driver-assistance systems. 

The most recent race completed on November 11, 2022, the IAC Powered by Cisco race at the Texas Motor Speedway was the most difficult race of the series, with only six teams successfully qualifying to compete.  Beginning in October 2021, each race gets increasingly difficult with head-to-head passing intensifying until one or both cars are unable to successfully complete a pass. Holding the title as the fastest autonomous vehicles in the world, the challenge has set the land speed record at 192.2 MPH.

A key component to an event of this caliber is sponsorship. Cisco — a leader in Internet technology — is a top sponsor for IAC. Passionate about investing in innovation, the next generation’s STEM abilities, and an autonomous future, Cisco revels at the idea of testing their technology to the extreme and looks to break into other industries, like high-speed rail, mining, and manufacturing. Ultimately, Cisco sees this sponsorship as an investment in a future with full autonomy with safety at its core.

Grant Harrell, Host of MarketScale’s “Are We There Yet?” video podcast series spent November 11, 2022 at the track, and this exciting episode features footage of this incredible race, interviews with a few of the teams competing, and interviews with IAC President Paul Mitchell, and Cisco Vice President, Industry Solutions Group - Cisco Marketing Wes Sylvester.

Interested in learning more? Read more about the November IAC exciting results, and learn how Cisco can help your company. 

Every year there is one place to find all of the cutting-edge technology leading the business aviation space: The NBAA BACE Conference. This annual event, hosted this year in Orlando, Florida, is truly the epicenter of exciting things happening in business aviation. Every company and industry leader were at this year’s premier event, showcasing new aviation projects, corporate travel products and technologies, personal and business jets offerings, cutting-edge engine technologies, innovative aircraft manufacturers, interior innovations, and much more!

It was a fantastic event this year, the 75th anniversary of the NBAA Conference in fact, and for those not able to attend, we’ve got you covered! Grant Harrell, Host of “Are We There Yet?”, made the journey and had plenty of insights and highlights to share!

Harrell attended many training sessions and met with hundreds of individuals within the industry, and this episode captures moments from twenty of those exciting experiences.

“I enjoyed spending some time with the International Aircraft Dealers Association and benefited from some insights about what’s happening in the world of aircraft dealers,” Harrell said. “And I also enjoyed spending time with Alder Fuels and Rolls-Royce and showcase their official announcement at this year’s NBAA event of their incredible partnership that is truly leading the way in sustainability, sustainable aircraft, and fuels.”

Some of Harrell’s takeaways from NBAA Base include:

• The focus on sustainability in aviation

• Exciting happenings in the VTOL space

• Technology innovations in the aviation industry

“Affordability was another focus of this year’s conference,” Harrell said. “we often think of business aviation as just corporate jets used by billionaires, but more and more, that’s not the case, and as such, affordability was another takeaway that I had.”

Grant Harrell hosts MarketScale’s “Are We There Yet?” podcast. Harrell seeks the latest technology innovations driving the future of transportation and mobility. Through this fun, entertaining, and engaging series, Harrell seeks out the leaders and companies behind some of the most innovative players in the transportation/mobility space. Grant’s background in the automotive industry drives his passion for what lies ahead in transportation. “Are We There Yet?” is a mantra to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible until the imagined becomes a reality.

Ed Bolen, NBAA’s President and CEO, recently shared NBAA’s priorities for safety, security, sustainability, innovations, and talent development to advance the future of aviation during a panel at the FAA’s Annual Global Leadership Meeting. As part of this overall strategy, NBAA leads efforts to develop a regulatory framework to support and adopt the development of technologies such as AAM.

In the latest, special-edition episode of “Are We There Yet?”, host Grant Harrell speaks with leaders in facility management about current and forthcoming changes in the field.

Harrell discusses his visit to the annual IFMA World Workplace 2022, which kicked off in Nashville, Tennessee over the course of three days in late September.

Harrell noted that the event featured thousands of facility management companies and representatives from around the world who gathered in the Music City for the yearly trade show.

Since 1980, IFMA (International Facility Management Association) has hosted this annual event for the purpose of convening leading facility management companies to learn about the most important issues facing the industry. This year had over 100 speakers, 300 exhibitors, some 70 educational programs and sessions, and more than 5,000 attendees, stated Harrell.

This year identified a unique issue that has and continues to face every industry: COVID-19. Like every other field, new workplace habits and demands caused by the pandemic led to more dynamic developments. “It was an especially exciting conference this year and a very important conference with all of the change that we’ve seen over these last couple of years,” said Harrell.

Harrell mentioned that these changes took center stage at the IFMA event, and it was specifically highlighted due to pre- and post-COVID life evolving how many workplaces and companies function.

“If you think back over the last couple of years, with supply chain disruptions and COVID and so many things happening in the world, this has presented unique challenges for the facility management profession, and this year’s conference really focused upon that,” said Harrell.  Of course, in terms of transportation and mobility, Harrell said commuting to work has also greatly changed, and further highlighted that it has affected how facility management functions today.  Such changes are in fact largely due to the increase in remote and hybrid workplaces, as well as the rise and reliance of ride-sharing and electric vehicle and bike use.

“It was a fascinating conference to attend, and truly highlighted the amazing innovations happening within not only facility management, but also within transportation/mobility”, added Harrell.  

Grant Harrell, host of Are We There Yet? had the pleasure of attending Informa Markets’ The Battery Show in Novi, Michigan from September 13-15, 2022. The show featured the latest trends and topics in the transportation and mobility industry. It is the “largest battery and electric vehicle technologies trade show in America.” 

When it comes to the state of the industry, Harrell said, “and overall, I can confirm, fitting within the theme of the “Are We There Yet?” series, electric vehicles (EVs) and battery technology are here! We are in fact here and it was incredible to spend some time speaking with the companies that are leading the charge within the electric vehicle battery industry.” 

The trade show was a huge hit and a definite comeback event after the pandemic.  Highlights of the conference include:  

• 10,000+ attendees including GE, Navistar, Ford, Apple, and SpaceX 
• 750+ exhibitors and companies 
• 150+ Keynote speakers and instructors including Ford, LG, the Department of Energy 
• 72+ hours of education available for attendees 

Harrell’s insights and takeaways from this year’s conference – battery technology is here. “I was amazed at everything from charging stations, electric vehicle manufacturers, OEM manufacturers of batteries, lithium-ion, and other technologies, and truly it’s here!” 

He continued to note that the prevalence of EVs on the road today continues to grow with a number of leading manufacturers with models visible on the road daily. Charging stations are appearing more often in common commercial areas. Grocery stores, malls, gas stations, and parking garages are some of the more common areas charging stations are appearing. 

Battery technology has come a long way and there is still room for improvement. And it’s not just EV batteries. The trade show featured batteries used within aviation, robots, and drones for example – all forms of mobility that utilize batteries. 

Over 20 companies are featured in total throughout the video, highlighting the technology and services featured at the trade show. Companies include Zerova, ProEV, American Battery Solutions, Motive Power, and Kawasaki Robotics to name just a few! 

In the latest episode of “Are We There Yet?”, host Grant Harrell interviewed Erika Lauren Guerrero, the founder and CEO of Electric Goddess — a California battery consultation and testing company, along with Luke Workman, the company’s Chief Scientist. The pair talked with Harrell about their experience in the electric transportation field, the state of batteries and testing, and battery-operated transportation/mobility.

Workman is extremely confident in the company’s testing capabilities, and stated that Electric Goddess’ testing operations truly aim for genuine issues that a battery will demand, as opposed to testing that always needs interference. In regards to their overall safety measures, he maintained that their battery pack designing capabilities are essentially failproof! Such batteries can be found today in electric bicycles, or e-bikes for example.

“If it’s a pack that we designed and validated for our clients, then yeah I can say it's safe. It’s so safe that for example we shoot, say five, three inch nails into them while they’re preheated to max temperature at 100 percent state of charge,” said Workman.

Workman even added that in a case where all odds are against a battery pack, it is still very rare for self-defectiveness to overtake it. With various testing ranging from decay to laser heat tests, Workman said issues are “almost non-existent.”

Companies that they work with often come with very challenging tests, so challenging, in fact, that Workman stated they perform “tests that other labs turn down.”

Being in this niche area has allowed them to create and build equipment to address many of the major problem areas that haunt the industry.

Despite safety concerns with certain electric vehicle companies and an uptick in recalls, there is a way to prevent or decrease them. To avoid a recall, Guerrero’s advice to companies contends that they should be more familiarized with potential issues beforehand.

Because they perform the tests that many companies would prefer to avoid, Guerrero knows exactly why some problems are recurring.

“We’re getting more information out there because we need more people to understand the concept that batteries are not one-size-fit-all so you need to understand your application…but you also really need to think critically about testing to failure and understanding your margins on when does it fail, and how does it fail, and I think that that will help the industry a lot,” said Guerrero.

Testing is more than just checking a box and logging in a book, Workman stated.

From cutting-edge design to research ambitions, Are We There Yet? hosts conversations with a plethora of people and companies making waves in the transportation industry. Most recently, Grant Harrell chatted with Ed Warnock, the CEO of the Perlan Project, an aerospace and climate-focused human-flight glider, about the internationally-celebrated research project.

As the world’s highest, sub-sonic wing-borne human flight, The Perlan Project has been awarded numerous recognitions, including mentions in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2017 and 2019, as well as recognition from the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Warnock has spent nearly 12 years with the project and aims to take the organization even higher (literally) than the 90,000 feet it has already accomplished. The research plane is zero-emissions and is a glider that flies into the ozone hole to study how stratospheric mountain waves and the polar vortex impacts weather and high-altitude flight safety.

“We rely on special conditions that only exist in a few places around the globe and only exist a few days out of the year. So, we’ll be down looking for stratospheric waves that extend to the top of the atmosphere,” said Warnock. With an attempt planned for about a year from now, the Airbus Perlan II is set to take off from southern Argentina, to see the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans concurrently while reaching new heights.

Although original thought leaders believed flights in the stratosphere would be smooth, with the weather and bumps all taking place below, the reality is much different.

“Well, under the right condition, when the polar vortex interacts with mountain waves down in the troposphere, they will propagate up through the tropopause into the stratosphere and then to the top sometimes into the atmosphere…In fact, the biggest waves on the planet are not in the ocean, they’re in the stratosphere.” With waves over 100,000 feet high, the stratosphere carries more than meets the eye and The Perlan Project team will soon attempt those waves in their innovatively designed glider.