Bernardon has already covered a lot of ground on this topic. He\u2019s written about how today\u2019s cars could follow the horse\u2019s fate<\/A> as autonomous car technology gains traction. He\u2019s covered new ethical questions<\/A> engineers and designers must answer. He\u2019s highlighted PLM software\u2019s role<\/A> in making these cars a reality. And, he\u2019s interviewed automotive industry experts about how they see composite materials<\/A> and mobility as a service<\/A> taking on greater roles with autonomous cars.<\/P><\/p>\n I recently spoke with Bernardon about how he thinks this topic will transform over the next few years and where our conversations will go. Here are some highlights from our discussion.<\/P><\/p>\n We\u2019ve come a long way since we started talking about this topic a year ago, Bernardon says. The overall conversation has transformed from highlighting potential paths autonomous car technology could take to highlighting what companies and the government are doing to get in on the action.<\/P><\/p>\n In Massachusetts, where Bernardon is based, the state legislature is considering a tax<\/A> that would charge autonomous cars by the mile. The legislature thinks the state will lose revenue on the gas tax because autonomous car technology will be more electric-driven than traditional gasoline-burning vehicles, Bernardon said, pointing to this as an example of how the conversation is changing. <\/P><\/p>\n \u201cLittle by little, reality starts to set in, not only to the real value that autonomous cars are going to bring, but more significantly, to the challenges they\u2019ll pose to be successfully deployed.\u201d <\/P> After the initial excitement and enthusiasm for autonomous car technology set in, companies realized just how much work they had to do to make this technology available to people outside of their testing environments, Bernardon said.<\/P><\/p>\n He pointed to Google as an example. Initially, the company said autonomous cars would be on the road in three years probably because of early-on successful testing, he said. But early in 2016, the company revised its estimate to between three and 30 years<\/A>.<\/P><\/p>\n What happened? From testing, Google realized the sheer number of issues which needed to be addressed, Bernardon said. If the environment was very controlled \u2013 a smooth road with white lines in a place with no rain, for example \u2013 the timeline was closer to three years.<\/P><\/p>\n \u201cBut when you get away from those perfect conditions, like an unmarked back country road or potholes, it could take a long time \u2013 closer to 30 years,\u201d he said.<\/P><\/p>\n Bernardon pointed to the autonomous car testing happening near the Seaport District in Boston<\/A>, where vehicle engineers are learning how to program the cars to respond to less than perfect road conditions, such as snow piles partially blocking a road or even seagulls landing in front of the cars.<\/P><\/p>\n These tests are a necessary part of learning about the intricacies of the challenges that autonomous car technology must address, Bernardon said. <\/P><\/p>\n The whole idea of connected vehicle systems or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication<\/A> will initially be deployed in conventional vehicles. However, what\u2019s happening with the technology in conventional cars will ultimately apply to autonomous cars, Bernardon said.<\/P><\/p>\n![\"Ed](\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/09\/Ed-Bernardon_Headshot-3.png\" "\\"Ed")
Edward Bernardon, our Thought Leader for the cars of the future topic, is the vice president of strategic automotive initiatives for the Specialized Engineering Software business segment here at Siemens PLM Software.<\/span><\/span><\/P>
\n“When we started talking about autonomous cars, they were somewhat a new and novel conversation. Now they\u2019re something people talk about at cocktail parties.” <\/H3>
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\n“As autonomous car technology matures, you start to realize some of these more mundane issues you\u2019ll have to deal with.” <\/H3><\/p>\n
\u201cAnother interesting part of autonomous car testing is how these vehicles are going to communicate to each other, and more importantly, how they\u2019re going to communicate with the infrastructure of a city.\u201d<\/H3>
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![\"Connected](\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/09\/Connected-Vehicles-1-1.png\" "\\"Connected")
![\"Vehicle](\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/09\/Vehicle-to-Infrastructure-Communication-1-1.png\" "\\"Vehicle")