Last week, I had the good fortune to be able to participate in an event at Chalmers/University of Gothenburg. From the time when I was at Delphi, I came in contact with Professors Christian Berger and Olaf Landsiedel through a project course they teach, Carolo Cup. Delphi, together with HiQ, sponsored the event, which consists of a competition in autonomous small cars that takes part in Germany. As part of the sponsorship, we were able to meet with the students and have a presentation and demonstration.
This became an event that I looked forward to each year, and after leaving Delphi, chose to keep up involvement and sponsorship, albeit on a much smaller scale than the other two sponsors. Yesterday, we had a meeting where the students gave a presentation and demonstration, and as well we had a chance to talk informally.
Our informal discussions ranged from the ethics of autonomous driving and how machine learning could come into the autonomous field and be verified to lifetime questions such as career development, the merits of advanced degrees, and what engineers can expect in the working world. We talked about their team, who had students from all over the world, who came together to bring their energy and passion to accomplish this project together.
Our time ran entirely too short. I felt that I could have sat there all evening, talking about both important technical issues as well as being a part of bright, young, ambitious people's considerations about their own paths.
As I left, and was thanked together with the other sponsors, I reflected that it actually is I who was thankful. Thankful for the chance to meet with the future, thankful for a chance to share their energy, ambition, and drive, and thankful to the university environments who bring together professors and students from all over the world to accomplish and learn together.
So, thank you, Carolo Cup Team 2016! You gave me far more than I gave you.