After spending nearly two decades working for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Nat Beuse is leading the charge in safety innovations at Pittsburgh-based Aurora Innovation Inc., a self-driving vehicle technology company. Ensuring the safety of autonomous driving technology is essential, especially as autonomous vehicles are being tested on public roads in markets throughout the country. Beuse has led the safety organization at Aurora to develop a Safety Case Framework as to how to create safe autonomous vehicle technology and build public trust.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced in developing your technology?
In the autonomous vehicle industry, we’re building something that has never existed before. This means there’s a constant need for creative, innovative solutions to daunting and complex problems, including safety. In our safety work, we’ve been able to leverage the best practices and processes of other industries. For example, our Safety Management System, which helps our leaders and organization appropriately factor safety into all decision-making, was adapted from the aviation industry. Even with that foundation, we’ve done significant work to customize these frameworks for Aurora’s needs, which has ultimately resulted in safer, more trustworthy self-driving technology.
What is your vision for the future impact of your product?
I dream of a future where we go from tens of thousands of vehicle crashes per year to zero. With recent autonomous vehicle advancements, we have the technology needed to make our roads safer. That means fewer fatalities, fewer injuries and a better, more reliable transportation ecosystem. With our autonomous trucking product launch coming next year, we’re already planning for how we grow the size of our autonomous vehicle fleet and, through it, the scale of the safety benefits we provide. This motivates me every day and inspires a sense of urgency and purpose in every member of our team.
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