A chance to change the world

March 06, 2017 12:00 AM

In an informal survey of an online chat group created for Udacity's self-driving car engineering course, respondents ranged from 15-year-old Mikel Bober-Irizar to a 58-year-old computer scientist with more than three decades of experience. They hail from places such as the Netherlands, India, Estonia and, of course, California. Here's a sampling of survey responses.

What do you hope to gain from the self-driving car course?

"First, something to be excited about again. I deeply miss learning. Second, a new career that will challenge me to continue to learn and grow as an engineer."

-- Joshua Smith, 32, mechanical engineer, Portland, Ore.

"I hope to get a great understanding of machine learning alongside the programming of robotics."

-- Rudy Pena, 31, front-end developer, Austin, Texas

"I hope to learn techniques in artificial intelligence to apply in the automotive industry once I graduate. I also hope to make use of artificial intelligence in other areas as I become more proficient."

-- Davinder Chandhok, 27, university student in control engineering, Brazil

Why are you interested in self-driving cars?

“I am interested in self-driving cars because I dream of becoming part of a technology that will drastically reduce the number of road accidents, reduce the stress because of traffic, improve quality of life and be more efficient than a human driver.”

— Mihir Rajput, 24, electronics and control engineer, Columbus, Ind.

“I can imagine the world without human drivers: less labor cost, save much more commuting time, save more lives, save more insurance. I can name thousands of benefits to our humanity, and I want to devote myself to this industry to make an impact on the world.”

— Alex Cui, 28, mechanical engineering Ph.D., New York

“Self-driving cars will disrupt many industries, including the insurance industry. As an aspiring actuary, I want to be prepared to understand and quantify the risks they pose.”

— Rayno Mostert, 21, postgraduate student, South Africa