Self-driving or self-defeating: Ideas Festival to provide answers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — What if self-driving cars were the norm? What if self-driving cars impact jobs? These are intriguing questions, and their answers could have serious implications for society. Discovery Park’s Purdue Policy Research Institute will host a workshop series beginning Oct. 12 that will address these questions as a part of Purdue’s Ideas Festival.

Connected and autonomous transportation vehicles (CATV) will soon introduce dramatic changes to life in America. They will challenge many of the nation’s basic working arrangements, laws and societal relationships. Their introduction will raise a plethora of ethical and legal issues and challenge the government’s ability to anticipate, adapt and govern.

The workshop series consists of four events that will take place during the 2018-19 academic year. The events feature a panel of experts who will discuss the implications of cybersecurity, security, infrastructure, human takeover and safety, ethics in algorithms and the workforce in the context of how they relate to CATV.

The workshop series is a part of Purdue's celebration of its 150th year and specifically of the anniversary's Ideas Festival, the centerpiece of Purdue's Giant Leaps Sesquicentennial Campaign. The Ideas Festival will feature a series of events that connect world-renowned speakers and Purdue expertise in a conversation on the most critical problems facing the world.  Al, Algorithms and Automation: Balancing Humanity and Technology is one of the Ideas Festival themes.

All of the CATV workshop events will take place at Purdue Memorial Union’s East and West Faculty Lounges. Events are free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.

The names and dates of the workshop events are:

* What IF self-driving cars were hacked? CATV Policy and Innovation Workshop, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 12. Registration information is available online.

* What IF self-driving cars needed drivers? CATV Policy and Innovation Workshop: Human Takeover and Safety, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., Nov. 16.  Registration information is available online.

* What IF self-driving cars were ethical? CATV Policy and Innovation Workshop; Ethics in Algorithms, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Jan. 23 Registration information is available online.

* What IF self-driving cars impact jobs? CATV Policy and Innovation Workshop: A Panel on Workforce, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 7. Registration information is available online.

Writer: Jaclyn Lawmaster, 574-301-9049, jlawmast@purdue.edu

Source: Krista Kelley, Purdue Policy Research Institute operations manager, kokelley@purdue.edu