Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car and How It Will Reshape Our World

A live online conversation with author Lawrence Burns and Patrick Larkin, Founder & Director of the Innovation Institute.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

OLLI held a a lively conversation on the quest to develop and perfect the driverless car—an innovation that promises to be the most disruptive change to our way of life since the smartphone.

We stand on the brink of a technological revolution. Soon, few of us will own our own automobiles and instead will get around in driverless electric vehicles that we summon with the touch of an app. We will be liberated from driving, prevent over 90% of car crashes, provide freedom of mobility to the disabled, and decrease our dependence on fossil fuels.

Longtime advisor to the Google Self-Driving Car team and former GM research and development chief Lawrence Burns is the author of the groundbreaking book Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car and How It Will Reshape Our World. He will be discussing the future of transportation and new technologies with Patrick Larkin, the Founder and Director of Massachusetts' Innovation Institute, the economic development division of the MassTech Collaborative, one of the nation's first state agencies to focus on innovation-based economic development. Larkin focuses on collaboration between industry, academia, and government to strengthen ecosystems for innovation and pathways for economic growth and opportunity.

We are grateful to Berkshire Gas, Berkshire Bank and the Berkshire Eagle for co-sponsoring the talk.