The Waymo Journey: From Moonshot to Your Next Ride

What if our daily commutes could be dramatically safer and more accessible for everyone? For over a decade, Waymo has been on a mission to build the world’s most trusted driver and fundamentally change our relationship with mobility.

Join Ann Arbor SPARK and the A2 Mobility Tech community for a look inside Waymo’s story, from its beginnings as a Google moonshot project to its current status as a leader in autonomous driving, serving 250,000 weekly trips across four major US cities. Get a behind-the-scenes view of the Waymo Driver, our integrated system of custom-built lidar, cameras, and radar, all powered by cutting-edge AI. You’ll see how this technology makes complex driving decisions and see real-world examples of it navigating challenging road scenarios.
The presentation will be followed by Q&A, happy hour beverages and bites, and networking.
About our Speaker: Steve Vozar
Steve Vozar is a Technical Lead Manager for Fallbacks and Reliability at Waymo. His work involves ensuring the robustness and safety of autonomous driving systems, with a focus on the systems that allow vehicles to navigate complex and nuanced scenarios. Prior to his current role, Dr. Vozar was the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of May Mobility. His previous academic appointments include serving as a Research Fellow at the University of Michigan and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics. Steve holds a Ph.D., a Master of Science in Engineering, and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, all in Mechanical Engineering, from the University of Michigan.