First episode of CEO podcast Transportation Matters about automated driving

5 MinutesBy NZ Trucking magazineSeptember 6, 2019

The first episode of Transportation Matters – the CEO podcast of Daimler Trucks & Buses, went to air 4 September. Host Martin Daum, who will become the new CEO of Daimler Truck AG 11 November, welcomed Michael Fleming, CEO of the US-based company TORC Robotics, for the opening season. In the 30-minute podcast talk, the focus was on the challenges and opportunities of automated driving in the freight business and also its social implications. TORC Robotics is a leading company in the area of self-driving vehicles with experience of the heavy freight industry.

In the first episode, Fleming explains how the technology, and in particular the different automated driving sensors, function.

“At a high level this technology [of automated driving] is very similar to what you and I do driving from home to work every day. We kind of divide it into three different bins, I think of it as: what you see, what you think and how you act. When you are driving to work or back home you are scanning the area looking for the lines in the road and is the road going to the right or to the left. Is there a car, pedestrian or something like that? Sort of perceiving the world.”

Transportation Matters is the first Daimler Trucks & Buses CEO podcast about the commercial vehicle industry. In the series, Daum will talk to international guests about social implications of the freight business and the current technological developments in the truck and bus industry. The first season of Transportation Matters consists of five episodes that will be broadcast in English or German on the first Wednesday of each month. Transportation Matters is available on all popular streaming platforms and www.daimler.com/transportation-matters/en.

The spectrum of current challenges in the [commercial vehicle] business is very broad – climate change; digitalisation; electric and automated driving; the future of the work world; modern, international leadership topics; and much more. With his guests from the fields of business, politics, media and sports, Daum will discuss these topics in order to learn, understand different point of views, create connections, find common ground and thereby work together to drive change. 

“Our business is very diverse and the range of topics is correspondingly broad. Some of these are quick to convey,” says Daum. “Some need more space to be discussed in the requisite depth. For this deeper dive a podcast is, in our view, the optimal format. It can provide a lot of information, background and different points of view.”

Florian Martens, head of global communications at Daimler Trucks & Buses, said with his three decades‘ worth of experience, Daum is an influential voice in the transport industry, and as his perspective goes far beyond the borders of his own line of business, the podcast format is a perfect fit.

“It‘s all about an open and critical discourse on important questions concerning the economy, transportation and society. Daum has invited a different special guest for each episode and is assuming an unusual role for a board member as moderator and interviewer. In our podcast we are presenting our company and CEO in an up-to-date and innovative format in a profound way.”

The overarching topic of subsequent episodes will be, among others, the importance and sustainability of transportation, in discussions with, for example Joschka Fischer (former German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor. Today, Fischer is managing partner of the strategy consultancy Joschka Fischer and Company, which he founded in 2009.). Other podcast guests on Transportation Matters will be Terry Stotts, head coach of the NBA team Portland Trail Blazers, and BrightHouse‘s Brad White on the topic of ‘Purpose‘.

The CEO podcast can be accessed and subscribed to at: 

Daimler Corporate Website: www.daimler.com/transportation-matters/en 

Apple Podcasts: d.ai/apple-md

Spotify: d.ai/spotify-md

YouTube: d.ai/youtube-md

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