Autonomous vehicles and future highways
Hundreds of automakers and startups around the globe are working on autonomous vehicles so these vehicles can eventually be mass produced. But what challenges do these companies need to overcome before this happens?
I recently spoke with Dave Lauzun, vice president of transportation and automotive at Siemens PLM Software, to talk about these challenges in more detail. One challenge that companies face is planning for how autonomous vehicles could impact the way future highways and roadway infrastructure will look and act.
Short-term, there won’t be much, if any, change to infrastructure, Dave said. Autonomous vehicles will be able to interact with other vehicles and current infrastructure elements such as traffic lights and road signs.
But as autonomous vehicles move toward better connectivity with vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, and as more of these vehicles hit the road, “there are incredible, additional opportunities that open up to modify the infrastructure.”
In this video, Dave talks about some of these opportunities and what companies and governments around the world are doing with intelligent traffic systems to prepare.
Tell us: Are there any potential infrastructure changes that excite you?
This concludes our video series with Dave Lauzun on autonomous vehicles. I’d like to extend a special thank you to Dave for taking the time to speak with me. Watch his other videos on autonomous vehicles and the challenges with developing them, software and sensors’ role in these vehicles, and how they’ll be tested and validated.
About the author
Toni Boger is the editor-in-chief of Digital Transformations, the Thought Leadership blog for Siemens PLM Software. As the content strategist for the Siemens PLM Thought Leadership program, she oversees the content creation, management, publication and promotion for all content in the program. She graduated from Saginaw Valley State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and English. Prior to joining Siemens, Toni worked as an associate site editor for TechTarget, a technology media company.
