Self-Driving Car Startup Voyage Brings on Ex-Tesla, Cruise and Uber Exec as CTO(techcrunch.com)
techcrunch.com
Self-Driving Car Startup Voyage Brings on Ex-Tesla, Cruise and Uber Exec as CTO
https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/19/self-driving-car-startup-voyage-brings-on-ex-tesla-cruise-and-uber-exec-as-cto/
37 comments
@olivercameron
Hi Oliver,
Udacity SDC alum here. Are there plans in the pipeline to open a subdivision on the East coast? I am super interested applying my education in new career opportunities but self driving car related jobs are tough to find near NYC.
Hi Oliver,
Udacity SDC alum here. Are there plans in the pipeline to open a subdivision on the East coast? I am super interested applying my education in new career opportunities but self driving car related jobs are tough to find near NYC.
Unfortunately not just yet, but we are open to remote work for the right folks. Ping me! [email protected]
Hi Oliver,
you probably have huge amounts of raw data and annotated datasets to train your algorithms. 2 questions:
1) How do you decide what you annotate and what not?
2) How do you manage your datasets infrastructure-wise (where and how is the data hosted, what software do you use to access and filter it, ...)
1) How do you decide what you annotate and what not?
2) How do you manage your datasets infrastructure-wise (where and how is the data hosted, what software do you use to access and filter it, ...)
Not necessarily a bad thing, but it seems that guy is always looking for his next job. Good luck keeping him on board for any significant amount of time. Although maybe he already ran out of self-driving-vehicle startups to work at.
I was just thinking this, but it seems his departure from Cruise coincided with the GM acquisition, and the transition to Uber from Otto probably happened because Uber acquired Otto. The primary job changes then are from Tesla to Otto and now from Uber to Voyage.
Totally agree. I got shit from folks in a different thread when I said I would be wary of hiring people with a lot of "job hopping" on their resume, but this guy totally doesn't look like he fits the bill for that:
1. 2 solid years at Tesla
2. Then moved to Cruise (very easy to understand why someone would want that) but was acquired only 7 mo later. Not hard to understand why he wouldn't want to work at GM, not what he signed up for.
3. Then moved to Otto/Uber where he was for 4 years until now.
1. 2 solid years at Tesla
2. Then moved to Cruise (very easy to understand why someone would want that) but was acquired only 7 mo later. Not hard to understand why he wouldn't want to work at GM, not what he signed up for.
3. Then moved to Otto/Uber where he was for 4 years until now.
Why didn't he stay on at GM if he was good/critical? Do not acquiring companies want to keep at the good people, not let them all leave immediately after acquisition?
Lots of good people want to leave after an acquisition. Working for a fast-paced innovative startup is a very different proposition than working for GM.
They kill people with failed ignition switch, tried to cover up, lobby EPA to eliminate fuel economy standards, get a huge bailout from tax payers because insiders stole all the money.
I won't want to work for such a company either.
I won't want to work for such a company either.
You are assuming it was by choice (and that the dates on his LinkedIn profile are accurate). I cannot say anything more concrete.
Seems to me people that have a job title where the first letter begins with "C" and rhymes with "Reef" are given a much wider berth when it comes to the types of thing that would get the average worker thoroughly passed over in job screenings.
As an aside - I've always heard "to give a wide berth" used in the same sense as "keep at arms' length" or even "wouldn't touch with a barge pole". I'm curious as to whether it's also commonly used in this sense?
Interestingly, the way I'd phrase this case is to "give them more leeway" which is a closely related nautical term but seems to be used the opposite.
Edit: Thinking about it, I guess to "give them more leeway" is to give them more room to maneuver, while "give a wide berth" is to give yourself more room.
Interestingly, the way I'd phrase this case is to "give them more leeway" which is a closely related nautical term but seems to be used the opposite.
Edit: Thinking about it, I guess to "give them more leeway" is to give them more room to maneuver, while "give a wide berth" is to give yourself more room.
They have already been selected specifically. This is different from the average worker who came out of a stack of resumes that needed to be whittled down fast.
[deleted]
Hello everyone! @olivercameron, CEO of Voyage here.
Drew is currently busy at our Testing Grounds shipping a new release, but if there's any Voyage or self-driving car related questions I can answer, I'd love to hear em'!
My previous life was at Udacity, where I spent 4 years working on their self-driving car and machine learning curriculum. I learned a ton from working with Sebastian Thrun and the rest of the Udacity team.
Drew is currently busy at our Testing Grounds shipping a new release, but if there's any Voyage or self-driving car related questions I can answer, I'd love to hear em'!
My previous life was at Udacity, where I spent 4 years working on their self-driving car and machine learning curriculum. I learned a ton from working with Sebastian Thrun and the rest of the Udacity team.
Hi Oliver,
Thanks for taking questions. Few questions:
1) What online resources do you recommend for someone that wants to go from beginner to skilled in the field of self-driving cars? Is there a sequence of courses that you could recommend?
2) What important concepts should this self-learner hone in on as they learn?
3) How can someone that does 1) (and has projects) break into the self-driving cars career?
Thanks for taking questions. Few questions:
1) What online resources do you recommend for someone that wants to go from beginner to skilled in the field of self-driving cars? Is there a sequence of courses that you could recommend?
2) What important concepts should this self-learner hone in on as they learn?
3) How can someone that does 1) (and has projects) break into the self-driving cars career?
Hello! Great questions.
1) If you already have a good grasp of Python, I always advise to start with the AI for Robotics MOOC at Udacity, which is my favorite class of all time. Once that's done, I'd take a look at their Deep Learning classes and the Self-Driving Car Nanodegree.
2) I think it's crucial to get to grips with how the whole stack works, so I always advise to get to grips with a middleware like ROS. Also, don't be afraid to dabble in algorithms (think problems in motion planning, computer vision, etc.)
3) The traditional programs (think PhD programs) create a lot of specialists focused on a single domain, but the industry is in dire need of more generalists. An engineer who is able to dive into any part of the stack is a huge value-add!
1) If you already have a good grasp of Python, I always advise to start with the AI for Robotics MOOC at Udacity, which is my favorite class of all time. Once that's done, I'd take a look at their Deep Learning classes and the Self-Driving Car Nanodegree.
2) I think it's crucial to get to grips with how the whole stack works, so I always advise to get to grips with a middleware like ROS. Also, don't be afraid to dabble in algorithms (think problems in motion planning, computer vision, etc.)
3) The traditional programs (think PhD programs) create a lot of specialists focused on a single domain, but the industry is in dire need of more generalists. An engineer who is able to dive into any part of the stack is a huge value-add!
Great answer, thank you! I will look into those courses and dig deep into the algorithms/stack.
Ping me when you're ready to start a job search in the space :) [email protected]
Where is your engineering team located? I have a friend who might be interested.
We are based in Palo Alto, CA. We are also open to remote work for the right person! Please refer to [email protected].
Will do! Thank you!
How do you see the market for self-driving cars? How far is Waymo ahead of the competition? Who are the top competitors? How do you see your own position as a smaller startup?
Hi Oliver
It seems like the best self-driving systems are currently struggling with what seem to be fairly fundamental deficiencies (cant react to stationary objects on highways, dont react well to children and cyclists)
Is this a valid observation? What do you see as the biggest limitations in the current generation of self-driving technology?
It seems like the best self-driving systems are currently struggling with what seem to be fairly fundamental deficiencies (cant react to stationary objects on highways, dont react well to children and cyclists)
Is this a valid observation? What do you see as the biggest limitations in the current generation of self-driving technology?
What are your thoughts on binocular cameras vs LIDAR for car vision? Will we ever get by on just 2 cameras?
LIDAR all the way. High-resolution, long-range physics-accurate depth is so crucial.
We will one day have a fully autonomous car with just a few cameras, but we may also have ultra-low cost high-performance LIDAR then.
We will one day have a fully autonomous car with just a few cameras, but we may also have ultra-low cost high-performance LIDAR then.
[deleted]
That's a reasonable business model. But their self driving doesn't really work reliably yet.[1] Their "deployment" in San Jose is three cars, max speed 25MPH, with a "safety driver" on board. Now they've hired people from the "fake it 'til you make it" self driving projects. Not a good sign.
This is similar to what Local Motors and Navya, which make minibus-sized driverless vehicles, are doing - the area and routes are very well known, but there may be some intrusions into the driving lane. Nobody has this working well enough for an airport parking lot shuttle yet.
It's too bad Waymo didn't continue with the Google mini-car. They could probably make this work. It's not as hard at 25MPH, because stopping solves most problems and sensor range is more than sufficient.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/technology/driverless-car...
This is similar to what Local Motors and Navya, which make minibus-sized driverless vehicles, are doing - the area and routes are very well known, but there may be some intrusions into the driving lane. Nobody has this working well enough for an airport parking lot shuttle yet.
It's too bad Waymo didn't continue with the Google mini-car. They could probably make this work. It's not as hard at 25MPH, because stopping solves most problems and sensor range is more than sufficient.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/technology/driverless-car...
Come for a ride ([email protected])! I think you might be impressed with where our technology is. It's really quite good. A lot has happened since August 2017.
We're heavily focused on a retirement city in Florida (125,000 residents on 750 miles of road) and on our G2 vehicle[1]. We recently signed a deal with Enterprise to commercially lease many, many more vehicles than our three initial prototype G1 vehicles.
1. https://news.voyage.auto/introducing-the-voyage-g2-autonomou...
We're heavily focused on a retirement city in Florida (125,000 residents on 750 miles of road) and on our G2 vehicle[1]. We recently signed a deal with Enterprise to commercially lease many, many more vehicles than our three initial prototype G1 vehicles.
1. https://news.voyage.auto/introducing-the-voyage-g2-autonomou...
[deleted]
Very impressed with some of Voyage's recent hires. A question for @olivercameron,
What makes Voyage different? From what I understand, you pick canonical routes inside private communities. Let's assume demand on these routes are high enough, and there are enough private communities to make a significant market. What prevents Google from coming in and mapping the area in a week and run you out of business? Let's say, hypothetically, I'm a self driving car engineer, why would I pick Voyage over other big players who have a lot more capital and much bigger team with a lot more people like Drew Gray?
What makes Voyage different? From what I understand, you pick canonical routes inside private communities. Let's assume demand on these routes are high enough, and there are enough private communities to make a significant market. What prevents Google from coming in and mapping the area in a week and run you out of business? Let's say, hypothetically, I'm a self driving car engineer, why would I pick Voyage over other big players who have a lot more capital and much bigger team with a lot more people like Drew Gray?
Hello!
>What makes Voyage different?
We are going to market with autonomous vehicles in a very different way, focusing on large private cities first and foremost. We intend The Villages, Florida to be the first (retirement) city that's traversable end-to-end (all 750 miles of road) in an autonomous vehicle.
We'll eventually make the leap to public cities, and it will feel gradual when it does happen.
We think about our technology quite differently, leaning on lots of partners for the infrastructure (mapping, simulation, sensors, tele-operation, middleware, and more) behind the scenes. This enforces a real focus on the un-solved autonomous algorithms.
We'll also be sharing later this year a project we're in the middle of that's dramatically different technologically to what we've seen elsewhere, utilizing the community itself to make a leap in autonomous performance.
>From what I understand, you pick canonical routes inside private communities.
We design our autonomous systems to traverse _any_ point-to-point route within an entire private (retirement) city. We intentionally don't just focus on a single, shuttle-like route. It turns out that pretty much any route in a place like The Villages is far less complex than other city-like environments, but that the business opportunity is just as large.
>What prevents Google from coming in and mapping the area in a week and run you out of business?
Voyage has exclusivity clauses in our agreements with our communities, where we also grant the community a slice of Voyage in the form of equity. Contracts are unfortunately meant to be broken, which means that we put a lot of effort into making sure relationships with these locations are great. We frequently host Town Halls and make sure the community is heard. This is crucial.
>I'm a self driving car engineer, why would I pick Voyage over other big players who have a lot more capital and much bigger team with a lot more people like Drew Gray?
It's a lot of fun here. Contrary to the hype, there's relatively few full-stack self-driving car startups at the Series A level. We believe our people, our technology, and go-to-market to be the best of that group.
Most importantly, when searching for new Voyage team members, we don't optimize for specific degrees or backgrounds. One of our greatest strengths is the team we've built with that philosophy.
>What makes Voyage different?
We are going to market with autonomous vehicles in a very different way, focusing on large private cities first and foremost. We intend The Villages, Florida to be the first (retirement) city that's traversable end-to-end (all 750 miles of road) in an autonomous vehicle.
We'll eventually make the leap to public cities, and it will feel gradual when it does happen.
We think about our technology quite differently, leaning on lots of partners for the infrastructure (mapping, simulation, sensors, tele-operation, middleware, and more) behind the scenes. This enforces a real focus on the un-solved autonomous algorithms.
We'll also be sharing later this year a project we're in the middle of that's dramatically different technologically to what we've seen elsewhere, utilizing the community itself to make a leap in autonomous performance.
>From what I understand, you pick canonical routes inside private communities.
We design our autonomous systems to traverse _any_ point-to-point route within an entire private (retirement) city. We intentionally don't just focus on a single, shuttle-like route. It turns out that pretty much any route in a place like The Villages is far less complex than other city-like environments, but that the business opportunity is just as large.
>What prevents Google from coming in and mapping the area in a week and run you out of business?
Voyage has exclusivity clauses in our agreements with our communities, where we also grant the community a slice of Voyage in the form of equity. Contracts are unfortunately meant to be broken, which means that we put a lot of effort into making sure relationships with these locations are great. We frequently host Town Halls and make sure the community is heard. This is crucial.
>I'm a self driving car engineer, why would I pick Voyage over other big players who have a lot more capital and much bigger team with a lot more people like Drew Gray?
It's a lot of fun here. Contrary to the hype, there's relatively few full-stack self-driving car startups at the Series A level. We believe our people, our technology, and go-to-market to be the best of that group.
Most importantly, when searching for new Voyage team members, we don't optimize for specific degrees or backgrounds. One of our greatest strengths is the team we've built with that philosophy.
[deleted]
Congrats!
Here's an algorithm to predict next Voyage hires:
1. Look at who was in the videos for Self-Driving Car nanodegree
2. They will eventually hire them :)
3. ...
4. Profit
Exactly!
For all the gripes I have with Comma AI, they have been the only ones consistently sharing progress with the public.
For people in medium income countries like myself avoiding a monopoly from Google is very important for the next 10-20 years.
Does Voyage plan to share some of it’s progress with the community on a liberal license?