GM’S path to autonomous vehicles at RSA 2020 – Future looks good

GM’S path to autonomous vehicles at RSA 2020 – Future looks good

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors, Mary T. Barra, gave a keynote onstage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco at the 2020 RSA Conference addressing the future of GM’s autonomous vehicles, as well as the company’s ongoing cybersecurity challenges they will face within the rapidly growing autonomous technology.

When automobiles were produced on mass scale over a hundred years ago, Barra explained, they had re-shaped our physical environment and gave us freedom.  If you were around during the bleak thirties growing up during the Great Depression or living in the Dust Bowl, you probably wouldn’t have thought that this could be possible.

However, over the years, the automobile has also given us unintended consequences, as well: crashes, pollution, and too many hours of our lives driving our cars.  One stat that really stands out is that according to the World Health Organization, more than 1.3 million people die each year in traffic accidents across the globe, and according to the NHTSA – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 94 percent of crashes are caused by human error.

“Advanced technologies such as all-electric autonomous vehicles are poised to alleviate these challenges.  More importantly, in contrast with today’s data age, autonomous vehicle’s (AV’s) will continue to improve people’s lives.”, Barra remarked.

As cybersecurity becomes ever so important with each and every new device, perhaps its biggest challenge is to defend cyber attacks against autonomous vehicles since people’s physical lives will continually be at stake.   We’re not just talking about the typical hacker trying to take total control of your computer at home, such as in ransomware, but a more of a terrorist hacker that not only will be compromising your data from your vehicle, but also possibly endangering all the passengers in your vehicle.

“There are virtually no industries today that are not vulnerable to cyber-attacks and the auto industry is no exception.  We are bringing to market technologies and features that are radically changing what vehicles can do for people and to improve their lives.  At the same time customers are bringing more devices into the vehicle and expecting seamless integration.  Part of our job is to ensure that our customers and their data are always safe secure and private.  Privacy is an extension of security that we fiercely protect.”  

Barra mentioned AUTO-ISAC, (Information Sharing and Analysis Center), which provides automakers collectively, including GM, to create and share best practices for the entire industry as opposed to individual automakers defending themselves alone.  The industry acts as a united front to collaborate and share best practices rather than invest cybersecurity as competitive advantage for each automaker.  

“Collectively, we incorporate strong security measures into every phase of the vehicle development process and is this group knows all too well the threat landscape is continually evolving with sophisticated attacks specifically designed to circumvent even the most robust defense systems.  Our enterprise defense strategy has to be integrated and multilayered because when a cyber criminal only needs to be affected once, we must get it right 100% of the time.”

ZERO CRASHES, ZERO EMISSIONS AND ZERO CONGESTION

By 2039, General Motors’ vision is to create a world with zero crashes, to save lives; zero emissions, so future generations can inherit a healthier planet; and zero congestion, so customers get back a precious commodity—time.  Technology is a key enabler to achieving this vision by developing connected, electrified and autonomous vehicles that will help us get there.

“It’s not a pipe dream.   We know it’s achievable.”…for our customers it means providing the safest product and the strongest cybersecurity possible will also giving them greater convenience better accessibility and all while doing it at it affordable cost.”

“Technology is a key enabler to achieving this vision by developing connected, electrified and autonomous vehicles that will help us get there….before consumers invest their trust in us, they want to be assured that AV’s will operate safely and securely every time without being hacked by outside forces.”

We have nearly 500 men and women including penetration engineers, cryptologists, mathematicians, data analysts, program managers and true hackers. We’re developing in depth defense modern touring in detection and incident response capabilities that we continually test, rework and refine”.

A critical cyber breach involving any one AV car company will be an incident that affects everyone in this space.  It could severely undermine the consumer confidence in this type of mobility and even delay the industry’s ability to share these benefits with customers and society. 

Cruise car in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. Photo courtesy of Cruise.

CRUISING ALONG

GM acquired Cruise in 2016, a self-driving car company headquartered in San Francisco, where they have been test driving through one of the most challenging cities to drive autonomously.  Since their acquisition, GM has allowed them to remain responsible for both technology and commercialization, giving Cruise independence in order to avoid the pitfalls common when technology startup is acquired by a big corporation.

In addition, GM re-engineered their vehicle development process to include cyber security from the earliest stages of vehicle design with multiple layers of protection to defend the vehicle and its systems.  GM will also introduce the first vehicle models with our new vehicle intelligent platform (VIP) this year, which supports new EV technologies, active safety systems, over the air updates, 5G networks and enhanced cyber security protections. 

Barra acknowledged the critical need for cybersecurity jobs that would need to jump from 1.8 million to 4 million by 2022, and emphasized that women and minorities continue to be severely under represented in the engineering fields. 

With GM’s outreach, they have encouraged nearly 300,000 young students and teachers across the US, to pursue such rewarding careers.  Two years ago, working with the Society of Automotive Engineers, GM introduced a new interactive student cybersecurity challenge and curriculum teaching them how digital information is transferred and protected in their every day lives as well with opportunities in STEM careers in mobility.

This is why it’s important for the automotive industry to work together to secure a strong enterprise-wide cybersecurity posture and why STEM education and careers will be even more critical in the coming years.

“If we want to cultivate young people to be part of our future we need to invest in theirs.”, Barra explained, as she came to a close with her keynote. 

“It’s a crucial time for the auto industry but it’s also an incredibly exciting time.”

Just like a futuristic vision of the 1939 World’s Fair, it will be a fascinating ride for all of us to see how the AV revolution will unfold.

An overview of IBC2018 with the conference CEO

An overview of IBC2018 with the conference CEO

At the start of IBC 2018,  held September 12-16 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Bright Blue Innovation Editor Angel Scott  has a 1:1 with IBC CEO Michael Crimp.  The discussion covers the hot topics of the conference and the next generation technologies that are being covered by the sessions.  They discuss the shift from hardware to software in the industry as the dominate base on the expo floor.  The discussion includes the major trends in the growing ecosystem that makes up the world of broadcast.  The interview can be found below.

 

Access announces NetFront Browser at IBC 2018

Access announces NetFront Browser at IBC 2018

At the IBC 2018,  after a demo presentation of NetFront Browser, Robert Guest, VP Product Management of Access Europe sat down with Editor Angel Scott to talk about the business case driving the product line.  All of us at Bright Blue Innovation are pleased to be a media sponsor of IBC 2018, premier broadcast technology and content creation technology event that was held September 12-16 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Secretary of Transportation Talks about Self Driving Technology at AVS 2018

Secretary of Transportation Talks about Self Driving Technology at AVS 2018

At the Automated Vehicles Symposium 2018 that was held July 9-12 in San Francisco Elaine Chao, the US Secretary of Transportation presented her remarks and observations on Self Driving Technology.

Her talk included discussion of the challenges in gaining the public trust for such technologies as they are implemented.  She continued with mentioning the related process of adopting driver assistance technology and the insights gained as a result of the Department’s communication with key stakeholders in this area. 

The full video captured by Roadway Media of the keynote speech follows.

 

Doug Jones receives Lifetime Achievement Award at CIFF

Doug Jones receives Lifetime Achievement Award at CIFF

After pulling off an all-nighter on the set of the popular TV series “Star Trek – Discovery” in his role as Commander Saru, actor Doug Jones was scheduled to fly the next morning from Toronto to San Francisco to be honored and presented onstage with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the California Independent Film Festival.

Not bad for an guy who has been unrecognizable to most of the public since he is usually behind  layers and layers of prosthetic makeup in the majority of his roles, but has become a Hollywood icon for over his thirty-year career by playing some of the most unforgettable characters ever created on screen.  The latest being “Amphibian Man”, the sea creature who falls in love with a mute woman, played by Sally Hawkins in last year’s Best Picture winner, “The Shape of Water”.

As soon as he arrived in the theater, he was sincerely apologetic to the cheering crowd for being late.   He certainly didn’t disappoint his legion of fans, including the many Trekkie’s, as some actors in this position might have taken a different approach, such as cancelling all together, but Jones seemed to care more about his fans than about himself and it definitely showed.

EARLY DAYS

Interviewed by CAIFF founder and President, Derek Zemrak , Jones recalled growing up as a “a very tall, goofy, skinny kid” in a small town in Indiana.  He was made fun of and picked on by all the other kids over the years.  To survive all that, he went on to become the class clown, inspired by the likes of Dick Van Dyke, Jerry Lewis, Danny Kaye…Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore, just to name a few.  Those were “his” people.

“I’m inspired by that TV, so I should be on it one day”, Jones reminisced.  “All my friends are on there, so I want to join them, right?”.

While going to school at Ball State University in Indiana, in addition to being the team mascot, Charlie Cardinal (with the red bird suit) he was learning mime as part of the mime troupe, “Mime over Matter”.  His first job after graduating was as a street mime and contortionist at King’s Island, an amusement park in Cincinnati.

Jones explained that his “excuse” job to move to Los Angeles was to apply for a bank management training position for nine months, but was fired after eight months.

“As they should have!…Banking?  You don’t want to trust me with your money.” Jones exclaims.

Doug Jones and Sally Hawkins in the film THE SHAPE OF WATER. Photo Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

COMMERCIALS & MOVIES

Then he got involved in TV commercial acting classes in Los Angeles, and within six months he was a dancing mummy on a Southwest Airline spot, and the three years following that, did 27 commercial TV spots for MacDonald’s “Mac tonight” campaign that allowed him to buy his first house.

With his contortionist skills and his “flexible” reputation as “a tall, skinny goofy guy, who moves well; wears a lot of crud on his head and doesn’t complain about it”, his attitude, along with his affable personality helped Jones make that successful transition from TV commercials to the film industry; more specifically the creature effects makeup industry”.

Jones reminisced how he was referred to by a well-known stunt friend, who was well aware Jones could put his legs behind his head, which eventually led him into his first gig on his first major motion picture.

 “I got a call from the Stunt department…”, Jones explains.  “We want to you to come and meet us”.  After Burton demonstrates his skills, the stunt writer says “hang on a second, I’d like you to meet somebody… and he comes back with Tim “freaking” Burton.  So, after I wet myself…”, Jones demonstrated his skills again.  Jones got the part in “Batman Returns”, without even having any head shots.

In addition to playing the Thin Clown in “Batman Returns”, his other highlights include playing Billy Butcherson in the perennial favorite Halloween movie, “Hocus Pocus” starring Bette Midler; and the title role in “Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer”.  However, he has become Guillermo del Toro’s “go to man”, in which he no longer needs to read the script for his films to accept the role.  He has worked in seven of his films, including roles of Abe Sapien in the Hellboy series, the Faun and Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth, and Amphibian Man in the Oscar winning Best Picture, “The Shape of Water”.

The original costume worn by Doug Jones as Orlok from the forthcoming movie, Nosferatu,, scheduled to be released in 2019. Photo taken at the lobby of the Orinda Theatre. Photo by Marcus Siu.

DREAM ROLE & UPCOMING FILM

After having played so many monsters and creatures, Jones had just one dream role left…

“If you asked me ten years ago, what’s the one role you haven’t played yet you really would love to?”  My answer was “I haven’t played a proper vampire yet…I want fangs…I want to be a classic vampire…I’m too old and gross to play a young sparkly vampire.  Jones continued.  “Who’s old and gross? “Nosferatu!”.”

As chance would have it, Jones would get a call from Director David Lee Fisher, who did a 2005 remake of one of the first original German horror silent films, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” that was shot over a hundred years ago; in which the remake updates the silent film with sound and dialogue.  He called to see if Jones wanted to play the lead role in his upcoming project, “Nosferatu”.  Little did Fisher know this was Jones’ absolute dream role was to play Count Orlok in “Nosferatu”.

“What’s really special…is the film in the background is all shot in green screen and the original footage from shot nearly 100 years ago will be all in the background.” Zemrak added, who came on board as one of the producers of the film, as well.

Jones also added, “not only did I get to play that character that I longed to play, but I got to play in the environment that Max Schreck got to play in.”

Something tells me with the enthusiasm and amazing talent of Doug Jones, this new and upcoming “Nosferatu” won’t suck.

Article and photos by Marcus Siu

(originally published on mlsentertainment.wordpress.com) 

A discussion with Charlie Vogt of ATX Networks at NAB2018

A discussion with Charlie Vogt of ATX Networks at NAB2018

At the recent NAB show in Las Vegas, I had a chance to sit down and talk to Charlie Vogt, CEO of ATX Networks about the industry, what he has been doing since Imagine Communications and the challenges of video media  distribution.  He highlights the switching and distribution technology from  the ATX product line that support the full range from SD through 4K HDR delivery.

The interview with Charlie Vogt follows :