Peggy Smedley Show

Ole Mengshoel, principal systems scientist, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, CMU, Silicon Valley, says the development of artificial intelligence has been going on at universities for a while, but it is only recently that there is more commercial interest. He explains the improvement in hardware and improvement of algorithms are driving commercialization.

Peggy talks about how smart cities use better resources, explaining they are more accessible and convenient for citizens and visitors, as well as more economically competitive. She says one of the latest research studies shows that roughly half of government officials say the IoT (Internet of Things) will provide value.

Jake Fields, CEO and founder, Treeline Interactive, says the company is working with clients and partners that want to leverage the IoT to make their business more efficient. He explains in the past couple years there has been an explosion where people have started to embrace connected devices and the sensors that are feeding the data. Now, it is a matter of identifying how to tie it to the core o...

Jay Kim, chief strategy officer, APX Labs, says wearables are the next big thing in industrial workforce technology, replacing things like paper and even smartphones, and explains wearables can become an integral part of a daily job, especially for hands-on workers. He continues that his company is in the business of creating a human working with machines environment, rather than a human versus ma...

Steve Latham, founder and CEO, Banyan Hills Technologies, says when his company develops a relationship with a customer, it truly is a relationship that helps the client understand the business challenge, and making sure that they aren't looking at IoT just because of the hype, but because it is really applicable. He defines the Internet of Things as taking a device and enabling that device with t...

Peggy talks about some of the industrial Internet of Things hurdles and says skimping on security is the riskiest move in the long haul. She explains she can't think of a single industry that can afford to skip the Internet of Things, and therefore can't afford to sidestep security. She addresses the importance of standards in the industrial IoT.

Bryan Kester, director of Internet of Things, Autodesk, Inc., says the technology company has a lab that is working on nanotechnology materials. He explains the costs for the IoT have come down dramatically in the past several months, making it more affordable, and now businesses can scale as a result.

Ron Konezny, president & CEO, Digi Intl., says machine-to-machine is truly a subset of IoT, emphasizing the remote access. He explains there is a tremendous amount of data that is collected in these applications, and we are hearing about artificial intelligence now because it is impossible to keep up with all the information that is generated. He continues

Mike Sicilia, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Construction and Engineering, says it is an interesting and exciting time in the construction vertical, specifically around Internet of Things, as the industry is seeing an uptick in firms using the IoT for monitoring. He explains the growth rate of the IoT in engineering and construction is faster than any other vertical industry rig...

Peggy says the industrial IoT (Internet of Things) started out as a way to improve operational efficiency, but today it is so much more. She explains the IIOT (industrial IoT) is a tool for finding growth in unexpected opportunities. She talks about some of the new innovations including predictive maintenance and AI (artificial intelligence).

Peggy concludes the month of September by taking a cue from George Orwell, and looks to the future of transportation to determine where the industry is headed. Instead of talking about self-driving vehicles, she takes listeners to the future, and looks at flying cars and levitating trains. She says several companies are already exploring prototypes for flying vehicles—literally taking to the skies...

Sanjeev Rastogi, business director, Honeywell, says next-generation technology will provide great performance, as well as something that is great for the environment. He says it can be leveraged in the automobile industry to reduce waste, and improve efficiency. He explains the auto industry is always looking to improve fuel efficiency, and one way to do this is a lighter car, which ultimately mea...

Glenn Laxdal, head of strategy and technology, Ericsson North America, says currently the vision is on enabling autonomous vehicles through the most straight forward way, which is vehicle-to-vehicle communication. He continues, saying that to get to truly autonomous cars, the vehicle needs to see its surroundings, including both short-range and long-range surrounding which is vehicle-to-infrastruc...

Peggy starts the show by talking about the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's newly released Federal Automated Vehicles policy which sets the stage for best practices and guidance related to autonomy in the transportation industry. She says we won't get there overnight, and we really need to focus on building the infrastructure first. The DOT intends for the policy to be a "living document," based on...

Maryline Daviaud Lewett, business development manager, Smart Integrated Infrastructure, Black & Veatch, says we are seeing new types of transportation today, with new electric and hybrid vehicles are coming on the market today. She says the new generation of autonomous cars are coming on the market, and in parallel a lot of companies are focusing on public transportation.

Peggy explains why it is important to understand how we are going to connect these roads and infrastructure. Technology companies and government need to come together to discuss how we are going to build the infrastructure and create autonomous vehicles, she explains.

Marcus Welz, CEO, Siemens Intelligent Traffic Systems, says there is no industry embracing innovation more than the transportation industry, and the vehicle themselves will become traffic information generators. He explains the whole innovation in the transportation industry is driven by the connected vehicle space.

Peggy says Uber is in the middle of setting itself up for something big in both the enterprise and consumer space, and explains Uber has become more of a technology company with one move. She talks about how autonomous vehicles are emerging in ride sharing. She says Uber is the "cool" company helping to "normalize" the idea that cars can and will drive themselves someday, perhaps even someday soon...

Shawn Pruchnicki, faculty member, Ohio State Aviation, says aviation has seen a lot of growth and innovation in the last 10 years, and soon there will be a complete overhaul of the current system. He explains aircraft handling has become more efficient which improves navigation, fuel-savings, and more.

Jay Ellis, program director, MTRAC Transportation, says there aren't many funding sources that help commercialize research. He explains that money helps, but it's the connections that are made that help all this new technology accelerate out of the university and make it to market.

Will Bauman, junior, Grayslake North High School and YSA (Youth Service America) Road Safety Ambassador, shares he was inspired to get involved with distracted driving education after he and his mother were involved in an accident in 2013. He says it is important to educate both adults and children, and is currently working to develop a program at his high school.

Peggy says technology can go a long way to help the lives of those living with disabilities and the elderly. She shares the U.S Dept. of Transportation is taking this into consideration to begin researching and implementing innovative applications for accessible transportation.

Vin D'Agostino, vice president general purpose unit, Renesas Electronics America Inc., explains the IoT ecosystem is seeing a lot of unexpected players enter the space and some will decide it isn't for them. He says early adopters that love the technology give a lot of feedback and help propel the IoT forward.

David Alan Grier, 2013 IEEE Computer Society president and associate professor, George Washington University, says it is very important for small businesses to be responsive to the market and needs, and they should really be looking for what trends are out there. He says long-term thinking is a must.

David Alan Grier, 2013 IEEE Computer Society president and associate professor, George Washington University, says we live in a world where we can't sit still and the driving force behind automation is capital. He says this push for automation actually creates opportunities for the new generation.