#241 – Boris Sofman: Waymo, Cozmo, Self-Driving Cars, and the Future of Robotics

Boris Sofman is the Senior Director Of Engineering and Head of Trucking at Waymo, formerly the Google Self-Driving Car project. He was also the CEO and co-founder of Anki, a home robotics company. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - LMNT: https://drinkLMNT.com/lex to get free sample pack - Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lex and use code LEX to get 1 month of fish oil - ROKA: https://roka.com/ and use code LEX to get 20% off your first order - Indeed: https://indeed.com/lex to get $75 credit - BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off EPISODE LINKS: Boris's Twitter: https://twitter.com/bsofman Boris's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsofman Waymo's Twitter: https://twitter.com/waymo Waymo's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/waymo Waymo's Website: https://waymo.com/ PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (07:32) - Robots in science fiction (13:13) - Cozmo (38:28) - AI companions (45:23) - Anki (1:10:56) - Waymo Via (1:42:34) - Sensor suites for long haul trucking (1:52:30) - Machine learning (2:10:26) - Waymo vs Tesla (2:21:02) - Safety and risk management (2:30:06) - Societal effects of automation (2:41:11) - Amazon Astro (2:45:35) - Challenges of the robotics industry (2:50:03) - Humanoid robotics (2:57:06) - Advice for getting a PhD in robotics (3:04:37) - Advice for robotics startups (3:15:43) - Advice for students