Toward Optimizing a Sensor Suite for Fully-Autonomous Driving Capabilities

The author will discuss a variety of topics pertaining to research conducted jointly between Ford and UM on fully-autonomous vehicles.
Dr. McBride has been a member of the Research Staff at Ford Motor Company since 1984, where he has applied his education to a wide range of physics-related disciplines. Although he is nominally a solid-state physicist with expertise in lasers, optics and x-ray crystallography, he has also worked on topics such as alternative energy devices, exhaust-gas catalysis, biophysics, nuclear physics, ultra-high pressure physics, and superconductivity. Recently, however, his research has focused on deriving
automotive safety applications from the study of autonomous vehicles. Notably, he was the leader of one of only six teams to participate in the finals of both the Desert and Urban DARPA Grand Challenges, and he is now the Technical Leader of Autonomous Vehicle Systems at Ford Motor Company. Over the course of his career, Dr. McBride has collaborated on projects with numerous national labs, governmental agencies, universities, and corporations, and has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and presented more than 100 talks.

Education:

Ph.D. in Physics, University of Michigan (1992)

M.S. in Physics, Michigan State University (1984)

B.S. in Physics & Mathematics, University of Wisconsin "“ River Falls (1981)