Amitai Bin-Nun's guest appearances

Amitai Bin-Nun

The Future Car: A Siemens Podcast

Jay Giraud

Bob Bell

Dan Sullivan

Karl Iagnemma

Joe Barkai

Toby Russell

Marcus Welz

Ed Bernardon

David Fritz

Susie Wolff

Wally Rhines

John McElroy

Alejandro Agag

Justin Ho

Daniel Clarke

OwlTail

Amitai Bin-Nun is the Vice President at Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE). There, it’s his job to assist with developing and establishing regulations on autonomous vehicles. His goal is to find a balance between ensuring the safety of people, promoting innovation, and maximizing the potential of the technology used in self-driving vehicles. These types of vehicles are transforming the way we travel; Amitai also shares how beneficial this technology might be for those living with disabilities.Time Stamped Notes[0:48] Amitai Bin-Nun has had an interesting ride so far throughout his career. When he first started out, self-driving vehicles were not on many people’s radar. He always had a passionate interest in technology and its role in society. For Amitai, it all started because he didn’t know what to do next after finishing up graduate school. He had an interest in policy and politics and the ways in which science and technology are used and innovated to improve people’s lives.He started out his career with a fellowship at the Department of Energy and then moved to Capitol Hill from there. At Capitol Hill, he looked at different aspects of science and technology: it’s all governed by rules and regulations, and what spaces there are to innovate and maximize the impact of technology on society. While exploring this innovative side to technology, he eventually became interested in self-driving cars and general innovation in transportation.Now, Amitai works at Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), where it’s his job to help governments regulate self-driving cars in a way that still promotes innovation and maximizes the potential of this technology. Another significant part of his job is to articulate why society should care and want self-driving vehicles.[3:13] As a physicist, Amitai is accustomed to looking and working with complicated systems. Amitai focuses on cutting through all of those complexities to find the key drivers of the system. He looks to find the most important variables that the innovation needs to impact, and how change can spark from there.The approach to regulating, legislating, and thinking about the role of technology in society is very similar. You have to cut through all the complexities to figure out what needs to happen to ensure that the technology is successful. Without this laser-light focus on the success of technology and a deep understanding of the broader system, you could just be running around and chasing trends. But, if you do have that deep understanding of the system, it helps you understand what the key drivers are and how to act accordingly.[4:40] Innovation is an incredibly valuable part to global society. This is where economic growth comes from and improves our standard of living over time. With that, any time something new emerges, there are always risks involved. This is why regulation is so important: rather than stifling innovation, regulation is about how to manage those risks to ensure that they don’t get in the way of the benefits that innovation offers.If the regulation around self-driving cars is done right, it signals to the public that the technology is safe and will improve life. It also gives a signal to companies that their technology is ready for development. The regulation around autonomous vehicles should both allow the innovation and also encourage it.[6:52] Establishing the right regulations on innovation is all about the balance between ensuring public safety and encouragement of innovation. To achieve this balance, you need to get the process right. Right now, there aren’t many regulations around autonomous vehicles because the technology is so new. Technology usually needs to be in use for a long time before the language and standardization of approaches in an industry emerges, which is what ultimately allows for effective regulation.Early on in the process, the best approach to implementing regulations is to observe closely to how the technology develops. Instead of over-regulating, governments put relatively light boundaries in place to ensure that technology continues to progress in a safe way. Over time, more effective guidelines can be established[9:00] To speed up the process of developing and implementing regulations on autonomous vehicles, there needs to be a dialogue between vehicle manufacturers, customers, and the government. Of course, most companies won’t freely share their training data to help out anyone interested in developing autonomous vehicles. There is, however, still a fair amount of cooperation that happens organically, particularly with the movement of employees from company to company, the use of open-source tools, and much more.When the Department of Transportation signals that they would like to standardize autonomous vehicles, it triggers a process. Once this process is triggered, everyone in the industry wants to be a part of it. The government can specifically accelerate this cooperation by providing more clarity regarding the future of establishing regulations and engaging in collaborative research.[12:57] Even though autonomous vehicles are 50 years into development, it’s still in its early stages, the industry’s leaders need to take time to define what “safety” means in relation to autonomous vehicles. Even though a company’s autonomous vehicle may be safer than a human driver, they’re never going to be perfect and will always be scrutinized for it. The more we have a common language and agreement in the industry about what it means to have a “safe” vehicle, the easier it will be to establish when a vehicle is technically and sociologically ready for deployment.[17:36] Today, each licensed driver needs to meet a specific performance standard in order to operate a vehicle—but, we don’t expect them to be completely perfect. Yet, we expect more from autonomous vehicles. Even though they are safer than human drivers, they still make mistakes. If companies refuse to deploy an autonomous vehicle before it’s perfect, no self-driving cars would ever make it on the road.[19:19] Though the safety of autonomous vehicles is critical, the value extends way beyond just the safety of people. SAFE recently performed a study on autonomous vehicles for people with disability. They found that there are about 4 million people who are unemployed or underemployed due to the barrier of accessible transportation. Self-driving cars can’t fix everything, but they are a great tool to bring accessible transportation to a broad range of the population that doesn’t have it today.[22:53] Currently, paratransit services are one of the best ways for those with disabilities to have access to transportation. These services, however, are non-inclusive and incredibly expensive for cities to offer and for the riders; yet, their services are not very reliable. Autonomous vehicles would transform this type of service, allow for a caretaker within the vehicle, and ultimately be cheaper for the city and rider to use. When you combine automation and the ability to summon a vehicle on-demand, there’s almost no limit to where our imagination could take us with the progression of this technology and vehicles.[31:23] The culture around transportation is already changing rapidly. People are starting to realize that a standard car is not the ideal way to travel short distances, in busy downtown areas, or on long trips up into the mountains. The idea of micro-mobility, renting scooters downtown, and other innovative types of transportation may be early manifestations of the realization that cars are not always the right vehicle for every type of trip.[37:00] With this shift in culture around transportation within cities, sometimes the negative narratives win over the positive ones. Scooters, Uber, and Lyft, as a result, are not fully appreciated. In a lot of cities, the policies and regulations put in place seem to discourage their use or treat them solely as potential problems. What Amitai would like to see is a shift in that mindset: view scooters, ride-sharing services, and micro-mobility as tools to be engaged as a solution to improve transportation and equities in cities.[40:33] In Amitai’s opinion, companies like Uber and Lyft are adding value to the public by presenting transit as an option within their vision of transportation. If Uber and Lyft share specific data with cities, there may be a middle ground that allows cities to make ends meet. If we are able to formulate this middle ground, then everybody wins. The challenge right now is defining what information is needed, and how that data should be tailored to these conversations. The more tailored this conversation becomes, the easier it becomes to meet everyone’s goals.[44:18] Within the autonomous vehicle world, companies are shifting their testing to areas that do not require reporting. This creates an adversary relationship between the technical talent and cities. Cities and technical talent should work together to formulate policies and regulations that prioritize making transportation better for everyone, rather than who wins and who owns the data.[46:06] Amitai has his own visions for what would make an ideal autonomous vehicle. Within his own vehicle, he imagines having a separate screen or TV for each member of his family, a smooth ride that would be ideal for reading, and so much more. In the end, he looks forward to reclaiming the car, transforming car time into family time. Resources:Amitai Bin-Nun (SAFE)LinkedInTwitter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amitai Bin-Nun is the Vice President at Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE). There, it’s his job to assist with developing and establishing regulations on autonomous vehicles. His goal is to find a balance between ensuring the safety of people, promoting innovation, and maximizing the potential of the technology used in self-driving vehicles. These types of vehicles are transforming the way we travel; Amitai also shares how beneficial this technology might be for those living with disabilities.Time Stamped Notes[0:48] Amitai Bin-Nun has had an interesting ride so far throughout his career. When he first started out, self-driving vehicles were not on many people’s radar. He always had a passionate interest in technology and its role in society. For Amitai, it all started because he didn’t know what to do next after finishing up graduate school. He had an interest in policy and politics and the ways in which science and technology are used and innovated to improve people’s lives.He started out his career with a fellowship at the Department of Energy and then moved to Capitol Hill from there. At Capitol Hill, he looked at different aspects of science and technology: it’s all governed by rules and regulations, and what spaces there are to innovate and maximize the impact of technology on society. While exploring this innovative side to technology, he eventually became interested in self-driving cars and general innovation in transportation.Now, Amitai works at Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), where it’s his job to help governments regulate self-driving cars in a way that still promotes innovation and maximizes the potential of this technology. Another significant part of his job is to articulate why society should care and want self-driving vehicles.[3:13] As a physicist, Amitai is accustomed to looking and working with complicated systems. Amitai focuses on cutting through all of those complexities to find the key drivers of the system. He looks to find the most important variables that the innovation needs to impact, and how change can spark from there.The approach to regulating, legislating, and thinking about the role of technology in society is very similar. You have to cut through all the complexities to figure out what needs to happen to ensure that the technology is successful. Without this laser-light focus on the success of technology and a deep understanding of the broader system, you could just be running around and chasing trends. But, if you do have that deep understanding of the system, it helps you understand what the key drivers are and how to act accordingly.[4:40] Innovation is an incredibly valuable part to global society. This is where economic growth comes from and improves our standard of living over time. With that, any time something new emerges, there are always risks involved. This is why regulation is so important: rather than stifling innovation, regulation is about how to manage those risks to ensure that they don’t get in the way of the benefits that innovation offers.If the regulation around self-driving cars is done right, it signals to the public that the technology is safe and will improve life. It also gives a signal to companies that their technology is ready for development. The regulation around autonomous vehicles should both allow the innovation and also encourage it.[6:52] Establishing the right regulations on innovation is all about the balance between ensuring public safety and encouragement of innovation. To achieve this balance, you need to get the process right. Right now, there aren’t many regulations around autonomous vehicles because the technology is so new. Technology usually needs to be in use for a long time before the language and standardization of approaches in an industry emerges, which is what ultimately allows for effective regulation.Early on in the process, the best approach to implementing regulations is to observe closely to how the technology develops. Instead of over-regulating, governments put relatively light boundaries in place to ensure that technology continues to progress in a safe way. Over time, more effective guidelines can be established[9:00] To speed up the process of developing and implementing regulations on autonomous vehicles, there needs to be a dialogue between vehicle manufacturers, customers, and the government. Of course, most companies won’t freely share their training data to help out anyone interested in developing autonomous vehicles. There is, however, still a fair amount of cooperation that happens organically, particularly with the movement of employees from company to company, the use of open-source tools, and much more.When the Department of Transportation signals that they would like to standardize autonomous vehicles, it triggers a process. Once this process is triggered, everyone in the industry wants to be a part of it. The government can specifically accelerate this cooperation by providing more clarity regarding the future of establishing regulations and engaging in collaborative research.[12:57] Even though autonomous vehicles are 50 years into development, it’s still in its early stages, the industry’s leaders need to take time to define what “safety” means in relation to autonomous vehicles. Even though a company’s autonomous vehicle may be safer than a human driver, they’re never going to be perfect and will always be scrutinized for it. The more we have a common language and agreement in the industry about what it means to have a “safe” vehicle, the easier it will be to establish when a vehicle is technically and sociologically ready for deployment.[17:36] Today, each licensed driver needs to meet a specific performance standard in order to operate a vehicle—but, we don’t expect them to be completely perfect. Yet, we expect more from autonomous vehicles. Even though they are safer than human drivers, they still make mistakes. If companies refuse to deploy an autonomous vehicle before it’s perfect, no self-driving cars would ever make it on the road.[19:19] Though the safety of autonomous vehicles is critical, the value extends way beyond just the safety of people. SAFE recently performed a study on autonomous vehicles for people with disability. They found that there are about 4 million people who are unemployed or underemployed due to the barrier of accessible transportation. Self-driving cars can’t fix everything, but they are a great tool to bring accessible transportation to a broad range of the population that doesn’t have it today.[22:53] Currently, paratransit services are one of the best ways for those with disabilities to have access to transportation. These services, however, are non-inclusive and incredibly expensive for cities to offer and for the riders; yet, their services are not very reliable. Autonomous vehicles would transform this type of service, allow for a caretaker within the vehicle, and ultimately be cheaper for the city and rider to use. When you combine automation and the ability to summon a vehicle on-demand, there’s almost no limit to where our imagination could take us with the progression of this technology and vehicles.[31:23] The culture around transportation is already changing rapidly. People are starting to realize that a standard car is not the ideal way to travel short distances, in busy downtown areas, or on long trips up into the mountains. The idea of micro-mobility, renting scooters downtown, and other innovative types of transportation may be early manifestations of the realization that cars are not always the right vehicle for every type of trip.[37:00] With this shift in culture around transportation within cities, sometimes the negative narratives win over the positive ones. Scooters, Uber, and Lyft, as a result, are not fully appreciated. In a lot of cities, the policies and regulations put in place seem to discourage their use or treat them solely as potential problems. What Amitai would like to see is a shift in that mindset: view scooters, ride-sharing services, and micro-mobility as tools to be engaged as a solution to improve transportation and equities in cities.[40:33] In Amitai’s opinion, companies like Uber and Lyft are adding value to the public by presenting transit as an option within their vision of transportation. If Uber and Lyft share specific data with cities, there may be a middle ground that allows cities to make ends meet. If we are able to formulate this middle ground, then everybody wins. The challenge right now is defining what information is needed, and how that data should be tailored to these conversations. The more tailored this conversation becomes, the easier it becomes to meet everyone’s goals.[44:18] Within the autonomous vehicle world, companies are shifting their testing to areas that do not require reporting. This creates an adversary relationship between the technical talent and cities. Cities and technical talent should work together to formulate policies and regulations that prioritize making transportation better for everyone, rather than who wins and who owns the data.[46:06] Amitai has his own visions for what would make an ideal autonomous vehicle. Within his own vehicle, he imagines having a separate screen or TV for each member of his family, a smooth ride that would be ideal for reading, and so much more. In the end, he looks forward to reclaiming the car, transforming car time into family time. Resources:<a href="http://secureenergy.org/about/staff/amitai-bin-nun/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amitai Bin-Nun (SAFE)</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitai-bin-nun-phd-23244811/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a><a href="https://twitter.com/aybinnun?lang=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

[Unedited] Keeping it SAFE with Amitai Bin-Nun & Ed Bernardon

Amitai Bin-Nun is the Vice President at Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE). There, it’s his job to assist with developing and establishing regulations on autonomous vehicles. His goal is to find a balance between ensuring the safety of people, promoting innovation, and maximizing the potential of the technology. These types of vehicles are transforming the way all of us travel; Amitai discusses how impactful the development of this technology will be for those living with disabilities.An ex-black-hole-studying PHD physicist who has also worked at Harvard's Kennedy School, the Department of Energy and for U.S. Senator Chris Coons, now Amitai spends time at SAFE helping governments regulate self-driving cars in a way that still promotes innovation and maximizes the potential of this technology. Another significant part of his job is to articulate (including on podcasts!) why society should care and want self-driving vehicles.Resources:Amitai Bin-Nun (SAFE)LinkedInTwitter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amitai Bin-Nun is the Vice President at Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE). There, it’s his job to assist with developing and establishing regulations on autonomous vehicles. His goal is to find a balance between ensuring the safety of people, promoting innovation, and maximizing the potential of the technology. These types of vehicles are transforming the way all of us travel; Amitai discusses how impactful the development of this technology will be for those living with disabilities.An ex-black-hole-studying PHD physicist who has also worked at Harvard's Kennedy School, the Department of Energy and for U.S. Senator Chris Coons, now Amitai spends time at SAFE helping governments regulate self-driving cars in a way that still promotes innovation and maximizes the potential of this technology. Another significant part of his job is to articulate (including on podcasts!) why society should care and want self-driving vehicles.Resources:<a href="http://secureenergy.org/about/staff/amitai-bin-nun/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amitai Bin-Nun (SAFE)</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitai-bin-nun-phd-23244811/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a><a href="https://twitter.com/aybinnun?lang=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Keeping it SAFE with Amitai Bin-Nun & Ed Bernardon