Orlando makes push to lead in automated vehicles
Symposium introduces industry leaders to auto company representatives
A conference attracting some of the heaviest hitters in autonomous vehicles could be the first step in making Central Florida a hub for the fast-emerging driverless car industry.
The four-day Automated Vehicles Symposium, which ends Thursday, gave area leaders a chance to rub elbows with representatives from companies like Uber, Nissan and Toyota.
It also gave them a chance to pitch the region — and recent legislation that makes it friendly to autonomous vehicles — to the industry in an effort to potentially lure businesses here.
“The great thing is that Florida has been at the forefront of this,” said SunTrax program manager Paul Satchfield, noting that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill in June that could open the door to autonomous vehicles on Florida roads sooner. “They know they can come here and test and go on the roads once they have tested. Not all states have that forwardlooking vision.”
SunTrax is a 400-acre autonomous vehicle testing facility located in the city of Auburndale in northwest Polk County.
The site recently completed its 2.25-mile oval track, which will provide a location for driverless vehicle testing.
That oval encircles a 200-acre infield, which is expected to be complete and operational by the end of 2021.
It’s one of several companies the region has been touting during the conference this week.
Luminar Technologies, which has more than half of its 350 employees based in a 112,000square-foot facility in Orlando, hosted reporters in a ride-along on a car equipped with laserbased sensors that the company hopes leads the way in next-generation driverless car technology.
The car came equipped with eight electrical “eyes,” or sensors, that gather data from its surroundings to inform on-board motors of the environment it is navigating.
As a driver piloted the car, a screen showing real-time data collection could be seen relaying in bright colors outlines of vehicles, road signs, trees and other obstacles.
Luminar Chief Business Officer Scott Faris said the process sits at the center of the company, which emerged from a stealth mode in 2017 to help spur interest locally in the autonomous vehicle industry.
He said Central Florida has proven to be an advantageous location for the industry because visitors tend to be open to new technology.
“This is about building consumer confidence,” Faris said. “One thing is that every one of those tourists are here because they want to have an experience. We want to leverage that phenomenal asset.”
That’s another reason local leaders have plans to keep pushing the region.
“Some of these people have no idea what Orlando has to offer and what we have already done here,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said said. “It’s being able to showcase our community. We don’t want to miss any of these opportunities.”
Autonomous cars are largely in the research phase right now, although some have popped up in specific areas.
Las Vegas’ Consumer Electronics Show in 2018 saw the debut of a self-driving car fleet deployed by the ride-sharing company Lyft.
Ford, meanwhile, has tested self-driving cars on streets in Miami, Pittsburgh, Dearborn, Mich., and Washington, D.C.
But don’t expect to contend with a full fleet of cars being driven by themselves any time soon, said Satchfield, who said that kind of mass deployment is likely “a few decades, not a few years” away.
But the more car manufacturers roll out features like driver assist, the more the industry can clear its most-imposing hurdle: public acceptance.
“One of the questions I ask when I’m speaking is how many people would not want to ride in an autonomous vehicle,” he said. “About half still raise their hands.”