Abstract:  Recent algorithmic and hardware improvements resulted in several success stories in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) which impact our daily lives. However, despite its ubiquity, AI is only just starting to make advances in what may arguably have the largest societal impact thus far, the nascent field of autonomous driving. At Uber ATG, we are working tirelessly towards this goal, aiming to transform the way we live and work through advances in self-driving technology with AI at its core. In this talk, I will present our use of AI in the context of self-driving cars, and discuss practical considerations for operating autonomous vehicles on our roads in a safe, efficient, and reliable manner.

Bio:  Carlos Vallespi is a Staff Engineer and Technical Lead Manager at Uber Advanced Technologies Group, leading the research and development of perception algorithms deployed in the Uber self-driving cars. Previously, he worked over 10 years at the National Robotics Engineering Center in the automation of agricultural machinery, including the development and deployment of fully autonomous tractors in orange orchards in Florida. He graduated with honors from La Salle School of Engineering with a degree in Software Engineering and received a M.Sc. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon. He has authored and co-authored over 30 patents as well as several publications in major Computer Vision conferences. His research interests are in the fields of Machine Learning and Computer Vision.