Sterling Anderson, co-founder and CPO of Pittsburgh-based self-driving vehicle company Aurora, said he often quotes the age-old adage “Don’t build a ladder to the moon” to his team.

Anderson said the quote addresses the propensity of engineering teams to build incrementally and see progress each day, a method he said Aurora does not work by. Aurora is co-headquartered in Pittsburgh and Palo Alto, California, with about 100 employees in each location.

“Self-driving takes both the experience of recognizing how far that distance really is and acknowledging early on the infrastructure that has to be built to get there,” said Anderson.

Anderson said this heads-down work ethic is why the name Aurora might not be as well-known in the public dialogue around autonomous vehicles as other company names.

Yet, on Tuesday evening Aurora took time to partner with SAE Pittsburgh and the recently-formed Partners for Automated Vehicle Education coalition to take part in that public conversation about a self-driving car future at the innovation in mobility meetup at Aurora’s office in Lawrenceville.
More>>