Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 20

Emerging Technologies
Fig. 2: Book based on research at University of California,
Berkeley.
accessibility. Each Friday, my supervisor handed me
my paycheck. I then had to go to a bank to get some
dollars and deposit the rest of my pay. While I had a
car and there were plenty of banks nearby, the only
time I could get to a bank was during my lunch break.
So, my accessibility to cash was constrained by my
work schedule and banking hours, not by transportation
or the location of banks.
America's first automatic teller machine (ATM)
made its debut in 1969. ATMs eliminated the need to visit
a bank to conduct basic financial transactions. They freed
people from having to plan their schedules around when
banks were open and provided access to cash at many
more locations. This enhanced accessibility to currency
and increased flexibility to do other things elsewhere.
I was fascinated by how innovation allowing us
to use our time more flexibly and efficiently increased
accessibility more than did methods to speed-up
travel. Examples in those days included flexible
working hours; video tape recorders for TVs; telephone
message recorders; pagers; instant dinners and
permanent-press clothing. I was also convinced that
America's love affair with cars would not wane until
another transportation system emerged that offered
Fig. 3: Significant GM concept vehicles highlighting
new electric/autonomous DNA of automobiles include
the 'skateboard' -based Hy-Wire and the DARPA Challenge-winning
'Boss' AV.
better accessibility. My research at Berkeley led to a
visual and analytical framework for assessing ways
to improve accessibility and my dissertation was
published as a book (Fig. 2). I was hopeful others
would embrace and extend my perspective on accessibility,
but this didn't happen.
After graduating in June 1978, I packed my van and
headed back to Michigan to continue my career at GM
and learn the business of designing, engineering, manufacturing
and distributing automobiles. It wasn't until
1998, when I was named GM corporate VP of R&D and
planning, that I began to reflect on accessibility again.
This occurred when Rick Wagoner, my boss and GM
president at the time, asked me: " If we were inventing
the automobile today rather than 100 years ago, what
would we do different given the serious side-effects of
automobiles and the new technologies that exist? "
A flurry of innovation
This liberating question allowed me to think about
the future of automobiles in the context of the broader
accessibility system within which they operate. As it
turned out, I spent the next 25 years (eleven more
at GM and then fourteen as a business advisor and
20 November 2022
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE ENGINEERING
Burns
General Motors

Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022

Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - CVR1
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - CVR2
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 1
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 2
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 3
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 4
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 5
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 6
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 7
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 8
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 9
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 10
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 11
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 12
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 13
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Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 15
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 16
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 17
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 18
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 19
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 20
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - 21
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Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2022 - CVR3
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