Month: May 2019

Cain: Preparing for Our AV Future in St. Louis

Last modified: May 8, 2019

by Hilary Cain, Director of Technology and Innovation Policy, Toyota; Chair, Partnership for Transportation Innovation & Opportunity (PTIO)

This week, the Partnership for Transportation Innovation and Opportunity (PTIO) joined Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) and BioSTL for “A Dialogue on Vehicle Automation and Community Impacts,” a town hall-style event at The MOTO Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.

With the nation preparing for the deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs), this discussion engaged Midwestern leaders in a dialogue about the full range of the impacts of AVs, including workforce implications.

At Toyota, we recognize that there are a variety of benefits our society is likely to realize from vehicle automation – benefits like safer roadways, greater access to mobility, and increased convenience. We also realize, however, that the technology may bring challenges and that, among these potential challenges, is the impact that it may have on our workforce.

Understanding and addressing the workforce impact is what drove Toyota to join our colleagues at the American Trucking Associations, Daimler, Fedex, Ford, Lyft, Uber, and Waymo, to form PTIO.

PTIO was founded on the principles of innovation, knowledge, transparency, and action.

  • We support innovation and progress in the transportation sector;
  • We seek to develop a well-rounded and comprehensive understanding of the impact of autonomous vehicles on the future of work;
  • We are eager to foster open communication on this issue and to engage in constructive dialogue with policymakers, stakeholders, and impacted communities; and
  • We are committed to promoting meaningful solutions for the workforce that can address or mitigate the challenges and enhance or grow the opportunities.

In summary, PTIO is committed to fostering commonsense adoption of AV technology, but we are equally committed to finding data-driven and evidence-based solutions that constructively address the technology’s impact on the workforce.

The solutions cannot be data-driven and evidence-based without data or evidence. To that end, PTIO recently released a guidance document outlining our research priorities. These priorities will help us develop the understanding that we need to responsibly plan for the future. They are focused in three main areas.

First, examining the workforce transition. Although some research has already been conducted on the extent and timing of potential workforce impacts, PTIO believes additional research is needed in some key areas, including into the new workforce opportunities that may arise when AVs are deployed and how impacts may vary by region.

Second, understanding training needs and delivery. There is much we need to learn and understand about the training and retraining needed to help with the transition, including which training programs and program components will be most effective and what deters people from taking advantage of training programs that are already in place and available to them.

Finally, studying quality of life improvements. Additional research should be conducted to get a better understanding of whether and how AV technology can improve working conditions in existing occupations and potentially meet the needs of people whose career opportunities are currently limited by lack of transportation.

Right now, PTIO is in listening and learning mode. We are reaching out to stakeholders throughout the country to advance this conversation and engage in a dialogue about the path forward. And that is what brought us to St. Louis this week.

Missouri is a state with a strong history of collaboration among business, labor, and the public sector and has an active and engaged workforce, which includes 140,000 trucking industry jobs (representing 1 in 17 jobs in the state) and many others who make a living as bus drivers, taxi drivers, and chauffeurs.

The transition to an autonomous vehicle future will not happen overnight, so we have time to be thoughtful and deliberate in our approach. However, at PTIO, we do feel a sense of urgency and responsibility to meet the needs of transportation workers and impacted communities – in Missouri and throughout the rest of the country – during this time of change.

We recognize that success for workers is dependent on our collective ability to confront the outstanding questions being raised in local communities today about our long-term future. But unless we work together, we cannot achieve our goal of ensuring career opportunities for affected workers.

PTIO is focused on transforming ideas into actions – working with communities in Missouri and nationwide to advance autonomous vehicle technology in ways that improve the quality of life and economic opportunity for all Americans.

Find related media updates from PTIO here.

How autonomous vehicles are driving discussions among local innovation leaders

Last modified: May 19, 2019

By   – Reporter, St. Louis Business Journal

Regional business, government and education leaders convened Tuesday to participate in a town hall-style event exploring the impact autonomous vehicles could have on St. Louis and the rest of the country.

Tuesday’s event, one of the first to take place in the region focused on autonomous cars, was held at the MOTO Museum in Grand Center and co-hosted by Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), the Partnership for Transportation Innovation & Opportunity and BioSTL.

SAFE connected with bioscience industry booster BioSTL through a mutual contact, said BioSTL CEO Donn Rubin. While BioSTL has traditionally focused on growing the region’s bioscience, health care and agtech sectors, Rubin said it’s important for St. Louis to be engaged in national conversation on all types of innovation.

“At BioSTL, we’ve always thought of innovation broadly. We think a lot about St. Louis’ place in the country and St. Louis’ place in the world through the lens of innovation. We believe it’s important for St. Louis to be in the middle of these kind of discussions, be a thought leader, a convener,” he said.

Dialogue at the event touched on the implications of autonomous vehicles on issues such as roadway safety, the environment, technology, the economy and workforce development. St. Louis Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Chulick gave the event’s keynote address, titled “Preparing the Workforce for the Innovation Economy.”

Other local officials participating included Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, St. Louis Community College Chancellor Jeff Pittman and St. Louis Regional Freightway Executive Director Mary Lamie, all of whom participated in the event’s panel discussion.

SAFE is a nonpartisan organization focused on reducing America’s dependence on oil and advocates for transportation innovation including electric vehicles, natural gas trucks and autonomous vehicles. The organization in 2018 released a report that projects autonomous vehicles could provide $800 billion annually in economic and societal benefits when they are fully deployed. Robbie Diamond, president and CEO of SAFE, said Tuesday that his organization has placed a focus on starting dialogue on autonomous vehicles with key stakeholders since the release of its report on the emerging technology.

PTIO Joins SAFE, BioSTL for a Dialogue on Vehicle Automation and Community Impacts

Last modified: May 8, 2019

PTIO Joins SAFE, BioSTL for a Dialogue on Vehicle Automation and Community Impacts

St. Louis, Mo. — Today, the Partnership for Transportation Innovation and Opportunity (PTIO) – whose members include American Trucking Associations, Daimler, FedEx, Ford, Lyft, Toyota Motor North America, Uber, and Waymo – joined Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) and BioSTL for a town hall-style event, “A Dialogue on Vehicle Automation and Community Impacts” at The MOTO Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.

With the nation approaching near-term deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs), today’s discussion engaged Midwestern leaders in a dialogue about the full range of the impacts of AVs including: potential for positive safety, economic, and environmental impacts; AV technology; workforce implications; and strategies for managing any adverse impacts.

Soliciting the input of local business, political, and community leaders, the organizations hosted an audience for keynote remarks and a panel presentation, with the following local speakers and panelists:

  • Donn Rubin, President & CEO, BioSTL (speaker)
  • Tom Chulick, President & CEO, St. Louis Regional Chamber (speaker)
  • David Nicklaus, Business Columnist, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (moderator)
  • Jeff Pittman, Chancellor, St. Louis Community College (panelist)
  • Mary Lamie, Executive Director, St. Louis Regional Freightway (panelist)
  • Amitai Bin-Nun, Vice President, Autonomous Vehicles & Mobility Innovation, SAFE (panelist)

“PTIO’s mission is to develop an evidence-based understanding of the opportunities and challenges autonomous vehicles will create for our nation’s workforce, and we believe these conversations should begin in communities like St. Louis where workers are looking for answers and direction,” stated PTIO Executive Director Maureen Westphal. “A successful transition for workers depends on the ability of today’s participants to confront the outstanding questions being raised about our communities’ long-term futures. By bringing together diverse viewpoints, as we did today, we are confident that we can achieve our collective goal of ensuring communities and workers have the opportunity to succeed in our AV future.”

“Self-driving technologies will have an enormously positive impact on our country, our economy, and our society. This is an opportunity too great to ignore and now is the time to prepare and implement policies that will unlock these myriad benefits and mitigate any negative impacts of this technological shift,” said Robbie Diamond, President and CEO of SAFE. “There is a balance we must strike to realize the billions in economic savings from increased travel access and productivity, to reduced congestion and fewer accidents. The more we maximize the economic and productivity benefits while minimizing any potential impacts on job holders, the better off our country and workforce will be.”

“Autonomous vehicles hold the promise of significant benefits in safety, mobility and efficiency, and St. Louis is proud to be at the center of these discussions about vehicle automation and its impact on communities,” said Donn Rubin, the president and CEO of BioSTL. “While our communities will undoubtedly benefit from sustained investment in innovation, a role as a thought leader and convener around cutting-edge technologies can accelerate St. Louis’ resurgence as a national center for innovation — adding to its status as the leader of the industrial Midwest’s innovation-driven resurgence. We are grateful to be at the forefront of this important national discussion on how this new technology might impact communities in the Midwest.”

To watch the program in full, click here.

BACKGROUND:

About the Partnership for Transportation Innovation & Opportunity (PTIO)

The Partnership for Transportation Innovation and Opportunity includes leading companies and associations committed to advancing autonomous vehicle technology in ways that improve quality of life and economic opportunity for all Americans. Our mission is to promote open and thorough discourse through a robust educational campaign to determine the opportunities and challenges autonomous vehicles may create for American workers. We will also focus on the role public policy can play in helping our entire workforce benefit from the adoption of autonomous vehicle technology. Together with impacted communities, stakeholders, and policymakers, we will work to address the employment impacts this technology may make. To learn more about PTIO, visit OurAVFuture.org and follow @OurAVFuture on Twitter.

About Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE)

Securing America’s Future Energy is an action-oriented, nonpartisan organization that aims to reduce America’s dependence on oil. Near-total dependence on petroleum in the transportation sector undermines the nation’s economic and national security, and constrains U.S. foreign policy. To combat these threats, SAFE advocates for expanded domestic production of U.S. oil and gas resources, continued improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency, and transportation sector innovations including electric vehicles, natural gas trucks, and autonomous vehicles. In 2006, SAFE joined with General P.X. Kelley (Ret.), 28th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, and Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President, and CEO of FedEx Corporation, to form the Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC), a group of business and former military leaders committed to reducing the United States’ dependence on oil. Today, the ESLC is co-chaired by Frederick W. Smith and General James T. Conway (Ret), 34th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.

About BioSTL

Since 2001, BioSTL has laid the foundation for St. Louis’ innovation economy with a comprehensive set of transformational programs that advance St. Louis’ leadership in solving important world challenges in agriculture, medicine, health care, and other technology areas. BioSTL has introduced nationally-acclaimed initiatives in startup creation and investment (BioGenerator), strategic business attraction (GlobalSTL), physical environment (including the Cortex Innovation District and BioGenerator Labs), entrepreneur support (BioSTL Fundamentals), seed and venture capital, a diverse and inclusive workforce, and public policy. Find us online and follow us on twitter @BioSTL.

Rubin: Accelerating St. Louis’ Resurgence Through Sustained Tech Investment

Last modified: May 6, 2019

Rubin: Accelerating St. Louis’ resurgence through sustained tech investment

via STL Today, May 5, 2019

By Donn Rubin

Innovation holds the promise of improving our lives in many respects and has been a defining feature of St. Louis for generations. This characteristic remains just as strong today as the city stands as a model for transforming from an older, industrial city into one driven by a new tech economy and a demonstrated openness to innovation.

It is this history of innovation that has led a national organization that advocates for autonomous vehicles as a way of reducing U.S. oil dependence to select St. Louis to launch an important national discussion on how this new technology might impact communities in the Midwest.

For generations, American prosperity relied on the industrial foundations of our nation’s heartland. Embracing cutting-edge technology, the Midwest powered growth on the domestic front and exported products worldwide. Yet, in the absence of competition, some of the very companies that led St. Louis’ growth in the last century ceased to innovate or increase productivity — and are no longer growth engines for our region.

Now we see sustained investment in startups and in a new innovation economy that has become synonymous with the industrial Midwest’s dynamic future. St. Louis has reestablished itself as a leader between the two coasts and as a city of innovation focused on startups. A bevy of incubators and industry-specific accelerators like Yield Lab (agtech), SixThirty (financial-services tech and cyber) and Stadia Ventures (sportstech) have emerged, along with new funding dedicated to helping entrepreneurs survive their fragile early years. BioSTL’s investment arm BioGenerator has invested more than $22 million to St. Louis-based bioscience startups, attracting more than $800 million in follow-on capital from around the world.

Even though Boston, San Francisco and New York seem to dominate the tech industry limelight, many Midwest industrial cities are hotbeds of crucial research. According to the Brookings Institution, St. Louis, in particular, draws nearly 14 times more funding per capita ($1,350) from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation than the U.S. urban county average of $96.80.

St. Louis will benefit by learning from our past and continuing to innovate across all platforms so as not to be outdone by competitors. We’ve undergone a cultural change and now are known as a city that embraces a wide range of creative entrepreneurs in a wide range of domains.

One such technology to keep an eye on is autonomous vehicles, which hold the promise of significant benefits in safety, mobility and efficiency. National advocacy organization Securing America’s Future Energy tracks the impact of autonomous vehicles technology, concluding that the vehicles have the potential to generate benefits totaling $850 billion per year by 2050. More importantly, the report has proposed that autonomous vehicles might become the next catalyzing technology that produces a step change in American economic productivity, in much the same way as the intercontinental railroad, the Interstate Highway System and the internet — benefits that could be magnified exponentially with St. Louis’ flourishing innovation economy.

Yet, as with any technology that has automation at its core, workers greet the vehicles with a dose of skepticism. While the report anticipates the self-driving cars will have a “muted” impact on the U.S. labor force, diffused over a 30-year period, achieving consensus warrants robust conversations around this burgeoning technology. St. Louis is proud to be at the center of these discussions about vehicle automation and its impact on communities, with BioSTL joining with Securing America’s Future Energy and the Partnership for Transportation Innovation and Opportunity to co-host a town hall-style event on Tuesday.

While St. Louis will undoubtedly benefit from sustained investment in innovation, a role as a thought leader and convener around cutting-edge technologies can accelerate St. Louis’ resurgence as a national center for innovation — adding to its status as the leader of the industrial Midwest’s innovation-driven resurgence.

Donn Rubin is the president and CEO of BioSTL, an organization driving innovation and the entrepreneur ecosystem in St. Louis.

See original article here.

Find related media updates from PTIO here.

 

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