

Gen Xers will remember Knight Rider, a television show in the 1980s about a crime fighter who battles bad guys with the help of a technologically advanced Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that drives itself and talks, all powered by artificial intelligence. At that time, the idea of a self-driving car was futuristic; but now 40 years later, some elements of autonomy are available in passenger vehicles as a standard offering. Just how close are we to fully automated vehicles and how will transportation itself change as a result?
Mike and Yael talk with Will Shepherdson, Darden alum (MBA’21) Product Manager at Waymo, and Madhur Behl, an Associate Professor in Computer Science at UVA. Waymo operates autonomous ride-hailing services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. Professor Behl conducts research at the confluence of Machine Learning, Predictive Control, and Artificial Intelligence with applications in Cyber-Physical Systems, Autonomous Systems, Robotics, and Smart Cities.
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Grushka-Cockayne’s research and teaching activities focus on decision analysis, forecasting, project management and behavioral decision-making.
As an expert in the area of project management, she has served as a consultant to international firms in the aerospace and transportation industries. She is the secretary/treasurer of INFORMS Decision Analysis Society, a U.Va. Excellence in Diversity fellow and member the Project Management Institute.
B.Sc., Ben-Gurion University; M.Sc., London School of Economics; M.Res., Ph.D., London Business School
Lenox’s expertise is in the domain of technology strategy and policy. He studies the role of innovation in helping a business succeed. In particular, he explores the sourcing of external knowledge by firms and this practice’s impact on a company’s innovation strategy. Lenox has a longstanding interest in the interface between business strategy and public policy as it relates to the natural environment; his work explores firm strategies and nontraditional public policies that have the potential to drive green innovation and entrepreneurship.
In 2013, Lenox co-authored The Strategist’s Toolkit with Darden Professor Jared Harris. His latest book,
Lenox is a prolific author; his most recent book, Strategy in the Digital Age: Mastering Digital Transformation, examines how digital technologies and services enable the creation of innovative products and services, as well as identifying new competitive positions.
B.S., M.S., University of Virginia; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Good Disruption: Autonomous Vehicles