“AI Driving: Building an Affordable Autonomous Driving Solution” with Jianxiong Xiao of AutoX on October 5, 2017.
Professor Yezhou Yang from the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering hosted his first Mini TED Talk series last month, as part of his KEEN Professorship: “AI Driving: Building an Affordable Autonomous Driving Solution” with Jianxiong Xiao of AutoX. The talk focused on the company’s curiosity for creating a valuable and sustainable solution for autonomous driving through affordable hardware and innovative software in their vehicles.
Xiao (also known as “Professor X” from his days teaching at Princeton) is CEO and founder of AutoX, a startup whose main aim is to make autonomous driving more accessible to everyone. He and his team of experts have successfully made an autonomous driving solution on a camera-based approach at a fraction of the cost of the traditional LIDAR based approach. Xiao was named a 35 under 35 tech innovator from MIT Technology Review.
Professor X researched the levels of autonomous driving, as well as the approach that companies such as Google, Uber and Tesla are using. Almost all solutions being explored use sensors such as LIDAR, Accurate GPS and other expensive hardware. The AutoX team was curious how to make autonomous driving universally available to everyone. Using inexpensive hardware ($50 cameras versus $80,000 LIDAR cameras) and a mapless AI software to accurately interpret the data obtained to implement autonomous driving, AutoX created self-driving vehicles that aim to not just be more affordable, but safer. Their vehicles can drive in sunny, nighttime or rainy conditions. Professor X shared several videos from the company’s website showing how their self-driving vehicles adapt to road conditions using deep learning techniques. AutoX is looking to double its team of engineers in the upcoming year to continue to create valuable autonomous driving solutions, as well as connect with various aspects of AI technologies to commercialize their solution.
From left to right: Sri (Professor Yang’s student), Cindy Gallaway (ASU Kern Grant Administrative Assistant), Jianxiong Xiao (CEO and founder of AutoX), and Professor Yezhou Yang (CIDSE Professor and KEEN Professorship Awardee).
Attend the next talks
Yang’s next Mini TED Talk will be in November with Arye Barnehama, CEO and founder of the Elementary Robotics. Barnehama was named one of “25 under 25” Technology Innovators out of Boston.
Mini TED Talk with Yezhou Yang and Arye Barnehama
Friday, November 17, 2017
4–5 p.m.
Engineering center G-Wing (ECG) 101 Generator Labs, Tempe campus [map]
This December (date TBD) Yang will also host Professor Igor Barani, the Director of the Artificial Intelligence Center and an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuro-Radiation Oncology at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.
About the KEEN Professorship
KEEN Professors, like Yang, have won competitive mini-grants to develop, implement, and disseminate Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) content within their courses, programs or labs. More information on EM can be found on the KEEN website, and those interested in becoming a KEEN Professor in the Fulton Schools, contact Layla Reitmeier at layla@asu.edu.
The ASU Kern Project partners with the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) to integrate the entrepreneurial mindset in engineering education on a national scale. Funded by The Kern Family Foundation, the project aims to: (1) develop a set of resources that support mentorship of engineering faculty in building a community of practice that values quality teaching, impactful research, and instilling a collaborative and entrepreneurial mindset; and (2) impact ASU engineering students through curricular and co-curricular approaches by weaving the entrepreneurial mindset into courses and student engagement activities.
