Innovation Rally-Oct. 13, 2023
October 13th's Innovation Rally: Accelerating Autonomy: The Future of Self-Driving Cars
Sponsored by the Ed and Noreen Haug Endowment for Excellence in Intellectual Property
Innovation Rally events feature complementary lunch, innovative speakers, networking and an interactive showcase of emerging and cutting-edge Notre Dame startups and technologies.
FEATURED PANELISTS:
Larry Burns
Larry Burns advises organizations on the future of mobility, logistics, manufacturing, energy and innovation. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Niron Magnetics. His current clients include Kitson & Partners, Nanoramic Laboratories, Neural Propulsion Systems and Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE).
Mr. Burns served as General Motors' corporate vice president of research and development and planning from 1998-2009. After leaving GM, Larry has been a professor of engineering practice at the University of Michigan, the director of the Program for Sustainable Mobility at Columbia University, a consultant to Google Self-Driving Cars/Waymo and an advisor to several major companies.
Mr. Burns is the author of Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car—And How It Will Reshape Our World.
Kevin Gay
Kevin Gay is the head of safety for autonomous mobility and delivery at Uber where he leads all safety aspects of the early integration and ongoing operation of autonomous mobility and delivery vehicles on our global platform. He also currently serves as the chair of the IEEE P2846 Working Group, a voting member of the SAE On-Road Automated Driving Committee and represents Uber in the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium, all of which are focused on developing safety standards for automated vehicles.
Previously Mr. Gay served as the director, safety standards policy at Aurora, where he led their technical engagements with industry standards development organizations as well as developed the internal policies governing the utilization of safety standards in development and testing of the Aurora Driver. Previous to Aurora, he also led the development of emerging industry safety standards at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), including engagement with the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium.
Naseeb Souweidane
Naseeb Souweidane is the research manager for the Detroit Regional Partnership (DRP). In this capacity, he is responsible for industry and research work for the Global Epicenter of Mobility (GEM), an initiative to help the Detroit Region retain and expand its global mobility and automotive leadership through a world-class advanced mobility industry sector. This role is central to delivering cutting-edge research and data to GEM program partners as they work to transform the region’s existing mobility ecosystem amid major global shifts in the industry.
Before joining the DRP, Mr. Souweidane was a research assistant for the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), where he co-authored reports on autonomous and electric vehicles (AV/EV) and batteries. In that capacity, he helped provide analysis to industry and government leaders on the implications of regulations of autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, mobility, and chips.
Mr. Souweidane has also held multiple research roles at technology companies and nongovernmental organizations, with industry experience ranging from consulting to finance.
Stephen Wood
Steve Wood served as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) assistant chief counsel for legislation in the 1970s and its assistant chief counsel for vehicle rulemaking and harmonization from 1979 to 2019. In the latter capacity, he led the drafting of rulemaking notices on vehicle safety and fuel economy standards.
During 2011-2019, Mr. Wood addressed the regulatory challenges posed by vehicles with automated driving systems (ADS) through leading the drafting of a law review article (Santa Clara, 2012) and developing and drafting a series of notices (2017-2019) seeking comments on modernizing NHTSA’s safety programs and standards so as to reflect the safety needs of ADS vehicles.
Internationally, Mr. Wood served on the U.S. Trade Representative’s team in Geneva that defended the U.S. fuel economy program against an EU claim that it violated the general agreement on trade and tariffs. Mr. Wood participated in the negotiations of the 1998 United Nations/Economic Commission for Europe Agreement for the establishment of globally harmonized technical regulations for motor vehicles, the 2002 U.S.-EU Guidelines for Regulatory Cooperation and Transparency, the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and the Investment Partnership (“T-TIP”) provisions seeking to minimize unnecessary divergence between U.S. and EU vehicle standards.(2013-2016) and the technical barriers to trade and good regulatory practices provisions of T-TIP and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (2017-18).
Moderator: Ed Haug
Ed Haug is the chairman of Haug Partners LLP and was a founding member of the firm in 1997. Mr. Haug is a “ranked trial lawyer” by Chambers, a member of the National Association of Distinguished Counsel, and was recently a member of the CAFC advisory council to Chief Judge Prost.
Mr. Haug has extensive experience in bench and jury trials as well as appellate proceedings having appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Second and Fourth Circuits. Mr. Haug has also represented clients involved in proceedings before the U.K. High Court, German Federal Supreme Court and the Tokyo High Court.
In addition to Mr. Haug’s activities as the firm’s chairman and a practicing trial attorney, Mr. Haug recently served as president of the Federal Circuit Bar Association (“FCBA”) and as a member of the Board of Governors. The FCBA is a national bar association representing approximately 2000 lawyers, judges, and academics practicing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which sits a short walk away from the firm’s Washington DC office. The Federal Circuit hears all appeals of patent cases in the U.S. and offers a forum for common concerns and dialogue between the private bar, corporations, government employees and the Court. Mr. Haug is a frequent lecturer throughout the world regarding all aspects of trial advocacy with a frequent focus on IP matters.