In this episode, I’m chatting with who I like to call ‘the most interesting man in mobility’, Alex Roy. We’re focusing on his role as Head of Special Operations with Argo.Ai and specifically a job listing he posted recently: AV Test Specialist. I have a sense of what that meant, but I wanted to have him on this episode to talk about autonomous vehicles, fleets, tech and more.
I wanted to let you know about another excellent podcast: Fast Forward podcast, presented by CoMotion. Fast Forward covers new mobility topics, the future of mobility and tech and more. You can check out the Fast Forward podcast in the show notes below.
Listen to this episode on your phone here.
Intro to Alex Roy
- Founder of the Human Driving Association
- Broken numerous Cannonball Run endurance driving records
- Co-founded The Autonocast, is a co-host of/DRIVE on NBC Sports and is Editor-at-Large at The Drive
- Also does secret stuff for Argo AI
Argo AI
- Test specialist position – not the same as safety drivers
- They are human beings going into the test vehicles
- Designed to figure out how to put autonomous vehicles on the road, safely
- Hiring in Miami; Austin, TX; Pittsburgh; DC; Detroit; Palo Alto and Munich – with more cities to come
AV Test Specialist
- The position will have 2 people in the car
- Test specialists are anticipating what’s happening on the road, and what’s going on in the car
- ‘Is this optimal or suboptimal?’
- Full time jobs, with benefits
Why Gig Economy Workers Make Good AV Test Specialists
- Gig economy workers, like delivery, rideshare, etc. know how to manage multiple platforms, calculate on the fly, etc.
- Managing info while in a moving car – major skill for AV Test Specialists
- Gig workers also generally know how to drive safely and handle challenges that come up, quickly
Goal of the Data Collected as an AV Test Specialist
- Test specialists are part of the testing of the autonomy
- Collecting information on how the autonomy is going – observations, notes, etc.
- Getting the vehicles to run optimally
- Ubiquity of AVs will not be in our lifetimes!
Outro
- Thanks to Alex for coming on the podcast! Really enjoyed learning about what a test specialist does
- It’s a serious job – and a great job to consider if you’re a gig worker and want more
- Would you like me to cover more jobs in the AV space? Let me know!
