You don't have to be a parent to know that today’s classrooms – like many things over the past two years – are being disrupted. And while emerging technology can provide new opportunities to grow, hands-on education also remains fundamental to the learning process. 

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SAE International’s Vice President of Programs, Christopher M. Ciuca, has spent his career committed to empowering educators to prepare today’s students to become tomorrow’s innovators. 

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Ciuca and his team have built award-winning STEM learning programs that are inclusive, engaging, and accessible. And as homes across the globe transitioned into makeshift classrooms, they’re working to create new tools for educators – as well as the family at home – that combine the hands-on with the cutting edge. 

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Bonnie Thibodeau, SAE’s Pre-College Program Developer, shares the launch of her passion project, The STEM Sagas: Virtually Rerouted. This digital comic book is available free online and has dynamic visuals, relatable characters, and an exciting Computer Science-themed storyline. 

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As Ciuca and Thibodeau give more families the opportunity to #MeetSAE, they’re learning how to give students the chance to experience, collaborate, and think about ways to move society into the future. All of this is possible with the support of folks like you – volunteering, collaborating, and supporting the SAE Foundation – to fund these initiatives as well as awards and scholarships.  

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Learn more about what SAE is doing to promote STEM education initiatives and explore the SAE Foundation video series on YouTube.

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We’d love to hear from you. Share your comments, questions and ideas for future topics and guests to [email protected]. Don’t forget to take a moment to follow SAE Tomorrow Today (and give us a review) on your preferred podcasting platform.

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Flying cars have been a part of public fancy at least as far back as the 1920s, when speculative author Hugo Gernsback pictured rotor-enabled “Helicars” as a remedy to the crowded streets of New York. Now, a century later, such vehicles are poised to become the stuff of reality.

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Soon, as you look across the urban skyscape, you may see a sleek, fully autonomous “flying car,” cutting travel times for the city’s residents in half. And the name on the side of that vehicle? Honda.

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With an astounding 5% of annual revenues poured back into research and development, Honda is seriously committed to revolutionizing mobility through land and air in the spirit of the company’s tagline, “The Power of Dreams.” One such project is the Honda eVTOL, a lightweight, hybrid aircraft which literally takes autonomous mobility to the sky as part of Honda’s plans to deliver a multimodal system for consumer intercity transportation needs.

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In this episode of SAE Tomorrow Today, our guest is Shun Kawabe, Fellow, Director of New Mobility Research Division, Honda R&D Co., Ltd. in Japan. With an impressive 35-year tenure at Honda in research and development as well as an academic background in aerospace engineering, Mr. Kawabe has had an enviable career of helping technology give wing to the possible. He shares his insights on the Honda eVTOL’s ability to maximize its travel range (approximately 250 miles) thanks to its hybrid power approach via a gas turbine generator and electric battery; the role of Honda’s core technologies in such disciplines as jet engines, mass car production and Formula One to provide a wholistic approach to new concept explorations; and the importance of an engineer’s creativity and imagination to deliver new ways of mobility safely and sustainably.

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What inspired Mr. Kawabe to pursue a career in aeronautics and autonomy? As a young man, his imagination was ignited by the Honda motorcycle and by visits to the airport to watch jets takeoff. To help educate the dreamers and inventors of tomorrow, like Mr. Kawabe, Honda is invested in STEAM education initiatives – learn more by visiting http://csr.honda.com/.

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When you’ve been studying mobility and advanced technology for over 50 years at one of the nation’s leading universities, you might just qualify as a go-to expert in the field.

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In this episode of SAE Tomorrow Today, we spoke with the legendary Dr. Alain Kornhauser, Professor, Operations Research & Financial Engineering, and Chair, Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering, Princeton University.

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With a career that has spanned over half a century, Dr. Kornhauser has been studying the possibilities of rapid transit in the urban environment since the 1970s. As the progenitor of the Princeton Transportation Network Model, he was one of the early proponents of leveraging Geographic Information Systems in the study of transportation systems, and his work has had a significant effect on the North American freight railroad system. Among the many highlights of his career, he founded ALK Technologies, Inc. which brought to market the roadway and railway systems digital map database credited as being used by the majority of North American railroad and trucking companies. Among his more recent endeavors, he has turned his focus on autonomous taxi and urban transit to enable more widespread mobility.

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In the discussion that follows, Dr. Kornhauser shared his thoughts on recent developments in the autonomous market, his experiences leading the Princeton team in several DARPA Challenges, how his career trajectory towards autonomy has developed over time, and where he sees the future of mobility headed. School’s now in session.

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We’d love to hear from you. Share your comments, questions and ideas for future topics and guests to [email protected]. Don’t forget to take a moment to follow SAE Tomorrow Today (and give us a review) on your preferred podcasting platform.

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What if you could test hundreds of thousands of traffic and road scenarios before your autonomous vehicles ever even touched asphalt? Imagine billions of miles and an untold number of road events encountered in the virtual world before your car or truck even left the factory floor.

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Talk about a head start when it comes to safety and efficiency.

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Using a comprehensive suite of products created from the best practices in software development, the minds at Applied Intuition work with clients to design virtual test environments that simulate everything the road can throw at them. They are creating a world where software-enabled vehicles are an integral part of society across all industries where there are vehicles – roads, yes, but also factories and ports as well.

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In this episode of SAE Tomorrow Today, Qasar Younis, Co-Founder and CEO, and Peter Ludwig, Co-Founder and CTO of Applied Intuition, discussed how they’re combining Detroit engineering know-how with Silicon Valley digital ingenuity to design differentiated solutions for customers such as VW, GM and Toyota, enabling game-changing AV development with speed and scale.

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We’d love to hear from you. Share your comments, questions and ideas for future topics and guests to [email protected]. Don’t forget to take a moment to follow SAE Tomorrow Today (and give us a review) on your preferred podcasting platform.

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Honeybees. Ants. 18-wheelers. What do they have in common?

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The first two operate as data-sharing collectives a la a hive mind to improve efficiency and achieve their goals, and now 18-wheelers are joining their ranks. Thanks to the advent of game-changing autonomous technology enabling hive-like communications, companies can create a network of vehicles that transform how they move freight across the United States.

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A “queen bee” in this effort is TuSimple, an autonomous trucking enterprise operating the world’s first autonomous freight network. With an ecosystem of industry leading partners including DHL, Goodyear, Penske, McLane, and the US Postal Service, coupled with a laser-focus on trucking, the use of camera-driven perception systems and real-world data, TuSimple is leading the way towards a self-driving infrastructure that enables greater efficiencies and lower operational costs for transporters.

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Case in point: Since 2019, TuSimple has driven 160,000 autonomous miles for UPS' North America Air Freight division and achieved a 13% fuel savings at highway speeds.

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In this episode of SAE Tomorrow Today, Chuck Price, Chief Product Officer of TuSimple, spoke about what the company has learned after collecting 5.5 million miles of on-road data and how it’s informing the company’s approach to safety, road conditions and AI system training.

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We’d love to hear from you. Share your comments, questions and ideas for future topics and guests to [email protected]. Don’t forget to take a moment to follow SAE Tomorrow Today (and give us a review) on your preferred podcasting platform.

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The average 18-wheeler on America’s roads is an engineering marvel, roughly 17 tons (not including freight) of transportation muscle that powers our economy and our way of life. As the old saying goes, “If you bought it, trucks brought it.”

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Picture in your mind one of these behemoths barreling down the highway—with no driver.

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Can you imagine a world where that’s the safest vehicle on the road?

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Daimler Truck can, and they’re working night and day to deliver on the vision of fully autonomous trucks transforming the industry, while improving the health, safety, and quality of life of truck drivers and creating new career paths in the mobility sector.

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To explain how we’ll get there, SAE Tomorrow Today spoke with Dr. Rainer Müller-Finkeldei, Senior Vice President of Engineering & Technology at Daimler Truck North America. As the global market leader in heavy duty trucking with 40% market share in the US, Daimler Truck literally is trucking’s heavyweight champion of the world. Now they’re setting their sights on the future of trucking – autonomy, electrification, zero emissions, and the development of hydrogen fuel cells for the long haul. In this episode, Dr. Müller-Finkeldei elaborates on these efforts, as well as the work that Daimler Truck is doing with development partners Torc and Waymo, and what the company is doing to promote sustainability and more.

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Stay up to date on the latest news from Daimler Truck North America.

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We’d love to hear from you. Share your comments, questions and ideas for future topics and guests to [email protected]. Don’t forget to take a moment to follow SAE Tomorrow Today (and give us a review) on your preferred podcasting platform.

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From Ransom Olds of Oldsmobile fame inventing the automotive assembly line all the way back in 1901 to Berry Gordy flipping the switch on Motown in 1960, Michigan has a storied history of marrying power and technology to achieve awe-inspiring results.

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But as home to scenes of unrivaled natural beauty, it is also a place whose citizens know the importance of sustaining the environment. That’s why it’s no wonder that Michigan is the epicenter of the burgeoning electric vehicle revolution and its emphasis on clean, green mobility.

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In this episode of SAE Tomorrow Today, Quentin L. Messer, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), discusses the work his organization is doing to promote business growth within the state. As a public-private partnership, the MEDC seeks to expand upward economic mobility for all Michiganders by working with employers and educators to promote STEM, talent development and continued innovation, following in the state’s rich tradition of inventiveness.

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A recent transplant from New Orleans, Messer, Jr. also shares some perspectives on what it’s been like to relocate from the Big Easy to the Great Lake State, and what others looking to do business in Michigan might expect.

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To learn more about why Michigan is an ideal place to start and grow a business, visit http://www.michiganbusiness.org.

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We’d love to hear from you. Share your comments, questions and ideas for future topics and guests to [email protected]. Don’t forget to take a moment to follow SAE Tomorrow Today (and give us a review) on your preferred podcasting platform.

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Few moments provide greater clarity on what’s really important than when a loved one is involved in a serious automotive accident.

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Ten-year-old Omer Keilaf painfully learned that lesson when his older sister was victim of a terrible car crash. Fortunately, she survived, but the event set Omer on a trajectory to try to solve the toughest automotive safety problems using advanced technology.

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“Many people have tried to convince me that it’s an impossible mission, but that only made me more excited about it,” said Omer, now the CEO and Co-Founder of Innoviz Technologies, a leading manufacturer of solid-state LiDAR sensors and advanced perception software for the autonomous vehicle industry.

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In the latest episode of SAE Tomorrow Today, Omer recounts how he is using the motivation of his early life experiences as well as his tenure as an intelligence officer in the technological unit of the Israel Defense Force as the impetus to make LiDAR cost efficient, more compact and much more prevalent in the mass production market. Omer also shares how his company is contending with the current supply chain challenges, as well as insights learned from working with Innoviz Technologies’ partner-customer BMW.

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Stay updated on the latest in autonomous driving from Innoviz Technologies.

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What do you think? Share your comments, questions and ideas for future topics and guests to [email protected]. Don’t forget to take a moment to follow SAE Tomorrow Today (and give us a review) on your preferred podcasting platform.

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With their invention of the graphics processing unit, they transformed the video game market, championed the advent of parallel computing and along the way became known worldwide as a leader in artificial intelligence.

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Now, as software capabilities and in-car concierge experiences are fast becoming primary considerations in car buying decisions, global AI powerhouse NVIDIA is accelerating the digital approach to vehicular luxury—and they’re attracting the attention of the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Audi, who are no strangers to high-performance mobility.

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In this episode of SAE Tomorrow Today, Grayson Brulte sits down with Ali Kani, vice president and general manager of NVIDIA Automotive, to discuss the work NVIDIA is doing to deliver the twin pillars of safety and security, how simulation and real-world testing together are needed to realize the promise of self-driving cars, and how fewer in-car computers (not more) can lead to greater confidence in autonomous responsiveness.

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Keep up to date on NVIDIA at www.nvidia.com

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What do you think? Weigh in with comments, questions and ideas for future topics and guests with a quick email to [email protected]. Don’t forget to take a moment to follow SAE Tomorrow Today (and give us a review) on your preferred podcasting platform.

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When it comes to autonomous vehicles, public trust in the tech is integral to success. As a popular rideshare app, Lyft Autonomous is uniquely positioned to develop this relationship and bring self-driving rides to the masses. Lyft has conducted over 100,000 paid rides with AVs — and there’s more to come.

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Jody Kelman, General Manager, Lyft Autonomous shares her vision for the future of self-driving fleets. Calling Lyft the “connective tissue” between this revolutionary tech and the rider, Kelman discusses how they’re able to build trust with passengers, their exciting partnership with Argo AI and Ford, and how they can bring a human touch to each AV ride.

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Learn more about the self-driving rides offered by Lyft: https://autonomous.lyft.com/

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Like the episode? Drop us a review and follow SAE Tomorrow Today on your favorite podcasting platform. Help us become even better by sending ideas for future guests and topics to [email protected].

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