Women in Autonomy is a new forum for female influencers and innovators in the autotech industry to network, encourage, educate, and exchange ideas that empower women today―and drive the next generation of leaders to accelerate the future of automotive. On August 22, 2019 they hosted their inaugural event in San Francisco, CA. Many incredibly inspired and determined women gathered to share their ideas, passions, and visions for the future of this industry.

Designated Driver CEO Manuela Papadopol spoke on a panel with Nauto COO Jennifer Haroon and DeepMap COO Wei Luo, moderated by Stacey Randecker, Co-Host of “The Flying Car Show.” The four discussed all things autonomy, each bringing their own unique backgrounds and perspective. They discussed where autonomy will be a year from now, how the SAE levels reflect the technology, the biggest barriers to autonomy moving forward, and more.

Key takeaways included:

• The importance of education to the general public and government, coming from industry experts. Autonomy is extremely complex and for it to be safely and seamlessly integrated onto our roads commercially, it must first be fully understood and accepted by our society.
• The need for standard definitions, understandings, and regulations for autonomy within the industry, so that we have a common platform for communicating with consumers and government.
• The biggest barriers to moving autonomy forward are: public policy, public acceptance technology, and infrastructure. All are solvable but must be approached through different angles.
• SAE levels are a good starting point, but these must be much more updated to reflect reality vs theory.
• A year from now, we will not have full autonomy. (For perspective, it takes 3-5 years to get a standard, non-autonomous car on the road.) However, we will have much more data, information, and further development.

If you missed the forum and want to watch, access it here.