Editorial: Trust, testing and transition

Autonomous Vehicle Engineering is still a “young” magazine, but this issue's contents might represent its most eclectic collection of ideas yet. Reflecting the increasingly diverse spectrum of thought regarding automated driving, not everything you read here this month is what you'd call optimistic.

Much has been written about Chris Urmson, one of the founders of Aurora and at just 42 already an icon in the industry. But editor-in-chief Lindsay Brooke's illuminating cover story finds Urmson alternately enthusiastic and confident about autonomy's direction, and cautious about the dangers of a profiteering mentality and what overpromise can do to public trust. Both could undermine the goal of improving safety, which seems to be the “sell” supporting autonomy's adoption.