Autonomous cars are no longer a distant vision — in certain cities they are rapidly becoming part of everyday life. According to the New York Times, Waymo’s autonomous fleet completed 14 million trips across five U.S. cities in 2025. By 2026, the company plans to expand into Dallas, Houston, Miami and elsewhere, aiming to reach one million rides per week.
Cambridge Forum examines how driverless technology may impact and reshape our identity and urban existence in ways we have not considered. In our car-centric culture, are the promises of convenience and safety of the autonomous car worth the price we may pay in terms of personal privacy? This does not even begin to factor in the bigger questions of the impact on employment and the environment.
Join moderator Stephen Guerriero and our guest speakers for a stimulating conversation on transportation, surveillance, and human adaptation in the age of autonomous mobility.
Speakers
Arthur Kay
Arthur Kay is an entrepreneur,urban designer, and advisor who works on building solutions for
sustainable cities. He is an Advisor to Innovo Group, and founder of several technology and urban design companies, including Bio-bean. Kay is an advisor and board member for various organizations connected to building sustainable cities; Transport for London (TFL), the Royal
Academy of Engineering, the Museum of the Home, and Fast Forward 2030. He is an Associate Professor and Entrepreneur in Residence at University College London’s Institute for Global
Prosperity and co-author of Roadkill: Unveiling the True Cost of Our Toxic Relationship with
Cars (Wiley, 2025). https://getroadkill.com
Philip Koopman
Prof. Philip Koopman is an internationally recognized expert on Autonomous Vehicle (AV) safety whose work in that area spans almost 30 years. He has also worked extensively in more general embedded system design, software quality, and safety across numerous transportation, industrial, and defense application domains including conventional automotive software and hardware systems. He originated the UL 4600 autonomous vehicle safety standard, and received the Industry Legend award at the 2024 the Self-Driving Industry Awards. He is faculty emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University.
Stephen Guerriero
Stephen Guerriero is the Director of Education at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation in Waltham. Guerriero is a graduate of Boston University and has worked for over 20 years as a classroom teacher. His interests are wide-ranging and extend from the influence of technology and science in society, and the Industrial Revolution, to how AI will change education. Guerriero oversees school and visitors’ learning at the Charles River Museum, the Mill Talks series, and the upcoming Blue Collar 101 events, which will spotlight current and future fields of vocational work.