Join us on an exciting business trip to the United States and discover everything you need to know about autonomous driving. Explore the latest technologies, network with industry experts, and visit leading companies at the forefront of autonomous driving. This trip offers a unique opportunity to broaden your knowledge and explore new business opportunities. Register now and join us to test, learn, meet, network and to discover.
17-24 August 2024 - Autonomous driving in San-Francisco
This is the second edition of this study visit. A group of 25 people already went last summer:
Xavier Tackoen (Espaces-Mobilités) is the host for this event and has a broad knowledge and expertise within autonomous driving. In 2022 (see video below) he already paid a first visit to the USA to see with his own eyes what for some sounds like a long future goal, but which is actually already happening... In 2023 he invited 25 Belgian delegates.
Take part in this unique visit!
Objectives:
In the United States, the development of robotaxis has been driven by the growing demand for on-demand transportation services, such as Uber and Lyft, as well as by technological advances in autonomous driving. In 2016, the US government published a guide for autonomous vehicles, with the aim of providing a regulatory framework for the development and deployment of these technologies. Several large companies, such as Google (Waymo), Uber, Tesla, General Motors (Cruise), and Amazon (Zoox), have invested heavily in the research and development of autonomous cars. The development of these technologies has also been driven by economic and social issues, such as reducing transport costs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving road safety. Many US states have also passed legislation to facilitate the development of autonomous vehicles and encourage road testing such as in Arizona and California. Although robotaxis are still in a relatively early stage of development, some companies have begun to offer limited autonomous transport services in some US cities, especially in Phoenix and San Francisco. However, the deployment of autonomous vehicles on a large scale still raises many questions and concerns, including safety, legal liability and employment impacts.
Draft program:
Saturday 17.08.24
•Flight from Brussels to San Francisco
•Arrival in San Francisco
•Welcome evening
Sunday 18.08.24
•Test of Waymo robotaxi service
•Test of Tesla FSD
Monday 19.08.24
•Meeting with Waymo executives
•Visit of the Google Plex + discussion with Google Data and AI engineers
•Visit to Waymo's autonomous vehicle depot in Toland
Tuesday 20.08.24
•Meeting with the California Department of Transportation
•Meeting with the City of San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
•Meetings with Tesla
Wednesday 21.08.24
Visit to Nuro, Nvidia, ZooX
Flight to Dallas in the evening
Thursday 22.08.24
•Visit to Aurora
•Visit to TxDOT
Friday 23.08.24
•Visit to Kodiak and Gatik
•Flight to Brussels
Practicalities:
Espaces-Mobilités is in charge of the preparation and visits. Participants have to arrange themselves the flight and booking of hotels. A preparatory concall will be organised. We'll try to have a discount offer for the hotel.
For organizational reasons, only 25 people will be admitted for this technical visit (first come - first serve principle), making this a unique - not to be missed - visit!
This technical visit will included (as mentioned flights, hotel, meals are excluded):
- coordination of the trip
- tests of robotaxi services
- meetings with robotaxi providers, officials and local experts
- delegation dinner (date to be confirmed)
- report of the visit and processing of results
- video footage
Price (tax excluded) : 1500€ (1250€ for ITS.be members until mid-April)
(registering for this visit contains committing to join this unique delegation and to join the preparatory concall period May)
Contact:
Xavier Tackoen
CEO Espaces-Mobilités
xavier@espaces-mobilites.com
+32476840617