If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Did you know that the revolution of self-driving cars actually began with a high-stakes military race through the Mojave Desert?
- What if you could reclaim thousands of hours of your life while making the traditional concept of car ownership completely obsolete?
- Are you curious about how a group of 'Silicon Valley geeks' managed to outmaneuver the century-old giants of the global auto industry?
Listen to Autonomy — Free Audiobook
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Key Takeaways from Autonomy
- Discover why traditional gas-powered vehicles are shockingly inefficient, utilizing less than 30 percent of their fuel energy and sitting idle 95 percent of the time.
- Understand how the impending automation revolution promises to replace massive parking lots and heavy traffic with clean, on-demand, self-driving vehicles.
- Learn how a freezing winter commute at the University of Michigan inspired Google co-founder Larry Page to dream of an automated world.
- Find out how the tragic events of 9/11 pushed auto executives to realize the dangerous global consequences of fossil fuel dependence and champion sustainable transportation.
- Explore how the DARPA Grand Challenge, an intense 150-mile desert robot race originally meant to protect soldiers, laid the critical groundwork for the self-driving car industry.
Learning Tools
Reinforce what you learned from Autonomy
Mind Map
Autonomy
The Crisis of Current Vehicles
Energy Inefficiency
Space & Usage Inefficiency
Global Consequences
Catalysts for the Automation Dream
Personal Frustration
Geopolitical Wake-up Calls
Military Necessity
Technological Milestones
DARPA Grand Challenges
Sensor & Software Innovations
Problem-Solving Tactics
Detroit vs. Silicon Valley
Detroit's Hardware Legacy
Silicon Valley's Software Edge
Convergence
Industry Disruption
Manufacturing Upheaval
Labor & Business Shifts
Economic Boom
The Autonomous Future
End of Private Ownership
Urban Transformation
The New Commute
Quiz — Test Your Understanding
Question 1 of 8
According to the book, what is a primary reason the internal combustion engine is considered highly inefficient?
Autonomy — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Recommendation
Chapter 2: Gasoline vehicles dominate our roads, yet they are shockingly wasteful.
Chapter 3: Frustration with a fuel-hungry world inspired bold dreams of automation.
Chapter 4: Robot races became a crucial first step toward building automated vehicles.
Chapter 5: DARPA’s races sparked key breakthroughs that defined automation’s future.
Chapter 6: Detroit and Silicon Valley both helped drive the rise of automated vehicles.
Chapter 7: As GM built electric cars, it was clear that sweeping change was coming.
Chapter 8: We are moving into a disruptive new era of large-scale automation.
Chapter 9: A routine morning commute may be transformed beyond recognition.
Autonomy Summary & Overview
Autonomy (2018) chronicles the long story of driverless vehicles and imagines a future that’s almost upon us. From the perspective of an auto-industry insider, the book goes deep into the history of automation, from the US Defense Department’s sponsored races in the Mojave Desert to the innovations of traditional car manufacturers. Lawrence D. Burns describes a world of Silicon Valley geeks and rugged inventors in a narrative that should interest anyone pondering the world to come.
Who Should Listen to Autonomy?
- Technology buffs interested in the story of automation
- Car aficionados worried about a future full of driverless vehicles
- Budding roboticists
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