Udacity goes to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit

Udacity students in attendance on January 17th, you’re invited to lunch!

I am excited to be visiting Detroit next week for the North American International Auto Show. Please come say hello if you’re attending, or send me an email at david.silver@udacity.com.

Here’s the schedule:

Wednesday, January 17, 12:30pm: I’ll be at Automobili-D, speaking on a panel about the autonomous driving industry. Come watch! If you’re a Udacity student, we’ll take you to lunch afterward.

Thursday, January 18, 6pm: RSVP for our Career Workshop and Meetup! We’ll teach you how to present yourself to recruiters in the autonomous vehicle industry, and you’ll practice pitching yourself to other attendees. Also, free food!

Saturday, January 20, 10:30am: I’ll be speaking at the Future Automotive Career Exposition at NAIAS. Introduce yourself to me, then introduce yourself to the many recruiters who will be hiring autonomous vehicle engineers!

See you in Detroit!

Back from Detroit

I just got back from a short trip to Detroit. Every time I go there, the city looks better. Downtown Detroit is now in really good shape, with lots of businesses and activity. Some combination of the casinos, the stadiums, and general urban renewal have really brought life back to downtown.

I’m also struck every time I go to Detroit by just how central the automotive industry is to the city. Probably half of the people I met worked in automotive, and it seemed like every business I drove past was automotive-focused. That’s especially true in the suburbs.

When I worked as a software engineer at AOL in the early aughts, I always got this sense that for all our good work, the real beating heart of the industry was in the Bay Area. Now that I work as an autonomous vehicle engineer in the Bay Area, it feels like the real beating heart of the industry is Detroit.

Ping Me If You’re in Detroit

I will be in Detroit next Monday and Tuesday, speaking at the CAR HMI USA Conference! If you’ll be at the conference, please stop by at 9:30am on Tuesday to say hello.

If you won’t be at the conference, but you’re in the Detroit area, send me an email (david.silver@udacity.com). I am looking forward to meeting with people while I’m in the area, especially people who are interested in the Udacity Self-Driving Car Nanodegree Program.

And if you’re a Udacity student, join the #detroit channel in the student Slack community! We’re organizing an event for students.