Self-Driving Cars in the 1980s (!) with Dean Pomerleau

Tom meets with Dr. Dean Pomerleau, who as a CMU PhD student in the 1980s was the first person to demonstrate that a neural network could be trained to automatically steer a self-driving vehicle.

Dean's results shocked the research community, and paved the way for decades of follow-on research leading to today's self-driving cars.

Creators and Guests

Host

Tom Mitchell

Tom Mitchell is the University Founders Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, a Digital Fellow at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, and the author of Machine Learning, a foundational textbook on the subject.

DP

Guest

Dr. Dean Pomerleau

Senior Research Scientist, Carnegie Mellon University (1992-2001)

Producer

Matty Smith

Writer/director/editor from Los Angeles, with experience writing and directing scripted television and national commercials. Mixed media producer with hands-on experience in all areas of production.

What is Machine Learning: How Did We Get Here??

Tom Mitchell literally wrote the book on machine learning. In this series of candid conversations with his fellow pioneers, Tom traces the history of the field through the people who built it. Behind the tech are stories of passion, curiosity, and humanity.

Tom Mitchell is the University Founders Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, a Digital Fellow at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, and the author of Machine Learning, a foundational textbook on the subject. This podcast is produced by the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.