Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a wonderful chat with Michael Milford. Michael is a multi-award winning educational entrepreneur, professor and joint director at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) centre for robotics. Michael conducts interdisciplinary research at the boundary between robotics, neuroscience and computer vision. I spoke with Michael in both 2018 and 2020 so I am super excited to welcome him back for #mobilitymay. In this episode Michael begins by telling us about his background as a professor and joint director at the QUT centre for robotics, his passion for technology specifically for autonomous vehicles, as well as education and Michael tells us what a Smart Community means to him. Michael then updates us on some of the projects he has been working on since last recording in 2020, including the two parts in the CHAD (Cooperative and Highly Automated Driving) project he has been leading, before he discusses some use cases where autonomous vehicles are an advantage and disadvantage to society. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of computer vision, perception, sensing and decision making in the Artificial Intelligence space, as well as having a more grounded approach to developing autonomous vehicles. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!

Listen here: 

What we cover in this episode:

• Michael’s background as a professor and joint director at the QUT centre for robotics  
• His passion for autonomous vehicles and the technical and societal aspects behind the technology, as well as education
• What a Smart Community means to Michael  
• Some of the projects Michael has been working on since last recording in 2020 
• The two parts in the CHAD Project Michael has been leading 
• Some use cases where autonomous vehicles are an advantage and disadvantage to society 
• The emerging trends of computer vision, perception, sensing and decision making in the Artificial Intelligence space and a more grounded approach to developing autonomous vehicles 

Quotes: 

“From the youngest age possible, I like to start getting into kids’ heads about all these amazing technologies and get them aware of what they could bring out to their future lives.”

“[A Smart Community] is literally smart. And all the key stakeholders and end users in that community are very well informed, and savvy about all the goings on and workings of that Smart Community.”

“You want to make sure as many people, even the people behind the scenes, are able to have those more nuanced takes and perspectives. Because that is going to be what ultimately guides us the best into the future.”

“Everyone’s taking a step back, and in the autonomous vehicle space there’s been a lot of consolidation. And there’s a much smaller number of players taking a much more patient long term approach to it.”

“I think one of the ironies here is that as the hype dies down around autonomous vehicles, you’re probably seeing the most healthy, grounded, realistic investment and development in autonomous vehicles by the small number of companies doing it.”

“I think we’ve already seen enough of a dialling back of expectation to see that it is going to scale back a bit in terms of hype, but more gracefully than has been done in past technology booms. And so I think it won’t necessarily be a gentle landing, but I don’t think it’s going to be as catastrophic, a pullback, especially since there are other commercial applications in mining and defense and agriculture, where a lot of this technology could pivot to.” 

Links: 

Michael’s QUT Profile 

Episode 22 with Michael Milford 

Episode 160 with Michael Milford 

Cooperative and Highly Automated Driving (CHAD) Safety Study 

The Complete Guide to Autonomous Vehicles for Kids and Everyone Else 

Connect:

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community 

Connect with Michael via Twitter or email: michael.milford@qut.edu.au 

Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community  

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital