Tech showcase to feature the latest in autonomous vehicles
The eighth annual Technology Showcase in downtown Mountain View will take place July 19-20 and feature exhibitions from local companies making new discoveries in fields such as robotics, extraterrestrial exploration, autonomous vehicles and health care.
Mountain View is well-known for its tech giants like Google, but the city has many more innovations to share from a variety of companies, both large and small, which will be showing off the latest in new tech next week.
“Mountain View is a pioneer in so many ways in technology. So many of the larger companies got their start here … and Mountain View fosters that creative thinking,” said Peter Katz, President and CEO of the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, the organization hosting the event.
The two-day showcase at the Civic Center Plaza will kick off with an opening panel discussion on autonomous vehicles on July 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. The following day, companies will share their interactive exhibits, including product and app demonstrations and vehicle displays, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will wrap up with a closing panel discussion on medical technology from 4 to 6 p.m. on July 20.
Companies and organizations featured at the exhibit include big names such as Google, Lockheed Martin, Waymo and NASA – plus some lesser-known startups.
“(The showcase) is a chance to talk with companies and meet the people behind these innovations. Some people use it for networking, some people use it to build partnerships. It’s a wonderful way to get the public and all sectors together,” Katz said.
The opening panel on autonomous vehicles, moderated by Mountain View Mayor Alison Hicks, will feature companies including Aurora, Gatik, Kodiak and Waymo discussing the latest advancements and challenges ahead.
Many of these companies are developing autonomous trucking vehicles to transport goods cross-country without a human operator. With the passage of California Assembly Bill 316 this past week – which would keep autonomous vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds with no trained operator off of California roads – audience members may hear how legislation could impact the future success of these projects.
“Today, most states allow our team to deploy our autonomous trucks and deliver value to our freight customers. In California, however, autonomous trucks are currently prohibited on public roads,” said Sydnee Journel, senior manager of government relations at Aurora. “This means we can’t bring the benefits of our self-driving technology to businesses and consumers here in our home state. We hope to see California leaders take action to welcome this homegrown technology and prioritize safety on our roads,”
Aurora deploys trucks across Texas day and night for their goods and logistics partners, as does Kodiak, another company involved in the panel discussion next week.
Daniel Goff, head of external affairs at Kodiak, said autonomous vehicles can help solve rigorous issues plaguing the trucking industry, such as long and demanding hours for drivers.
“We think it’s really important to participate in this event in Mountain View to give people a chance to see the technology up close, understand how it works, understand the potential it has to increase safety and improve the efficiency of how we move goods around the country,” Goff said.
The second panel, focused on med tech, will feature speakers from the Fogarty Institute, El Camino Hospital and Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.
One development participants can expect the healthcare panelists to speak on is FloPatch, a wearable ultrasound system that allows clinicians to more effectively treat patients with sepsis.
A few months ago, El Camino Hospital became the first hospital in the world to adopt FloPatch, after piloting the technology for a year at Fogarty Innovation, the medical technology and startup incubator that operates out of El Camino Hospital.
“The fact that we’re located on El Camino Health’s campus and within Mountain View, we’re quite literally working on devices that help the community,” said panelist and Fogarty Innovation Chief Alliance Officer Allie Gregorian. “We get notes every single day from their nurses and frontline workers saying, ‘Oh, my gosh, (FloPatch) has just been such an improvement to our workflow. We’re able to better provide care to our patients.’”
Panelist and El Camino Health Chief Information Officer Deb Muro said that the healthcare industry has traditionally been “reactive” by waiting for patients to exhibit and report symptoms. She said she hopes innovations like FloPatch will streamline healthcare for both providers and patients.
“The goal of technology – like AI, machine learning and other capabilities – is to help us be able to predict, ‘what types of patients are we going to see tomorrow? What types of supplies do we need to be prepared?’” Muro said.
