FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Students and community members at Fresno State got an up-close look at the future of transportation during a special event featuring Tesla\u2019s self-driving vehicles.<\/p>\n
The Fresno State Transportation Institute partnered with Tesla to host an educational showcase highlighting advancements in autonomous vehicle technology. The event allowed participants to explore three of Tesla\u2019s latest models \u2014 the Cybertruck, Model S, and Model X \u2014 and experience a ride in a supervised self-driving car.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an event that our transportation institute is collaborating with Tesla and offering it for the students and the public,\u201d said Dr. Aly Tawfik, professor of transportation systems engineering and director of the Fresno State Transportation Institute.<\/p>\n
Tawfik says the goal is to educate students and the community about the rapid changes coming to the transportation industry and how self-driving technology could reshape daily life.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time humans invented a new transportation technology, the world changed,\u201d Tawfik said. \u201cNow we\u2019re witnessing one of these moments in history where the world is going to change \u2014 and that\u2019s because of self-driving vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n
The professor emphasized that while autonomous driving is still developing, Tesla\u2019s supervised system is currently the only commercially available version on the market. He added that it\u2019s already proving to be safer than human drivers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t get DUIs, they don\u2019t break the law, they don\u2019t speed,\u201d Tawfik said. \u201cThey\u2019re always paying attention, and their reaction times are much faster.\u201d<\/p>\n
But with progress also comes challenges. Tawfik says the transition to fully autonomous vehicles will likely reshape entire industries \u2014 including small, family-owned businesses that rely on car ownership.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen vehicles are completely autonomous, most people will not choose to own vehicles,\u201d he explained. \u201cThey\u2019ll ride autonomous taxis because they\u2019re going to be extremely less expensive \u2014 almost free. That means gas stations, paint shops, and body shops could be at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through events like this, the Transportation Institute aims to prepare the Central Valley community for the technological and economic shifts ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s our job to educate our community that this is happening and that we need to start preparing for it,\u201d Tawfik said. \u201cLots of people can either get an advantage and move to the forefront of technology \u2014 or if we don\u2019t, lots of people can suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event also aimed to inspire Fresno State students to pursue careers in engineering, artificial intelligence, and transportation systems as the industry continues to evolve.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want our students to see that technology, AI, and engineering are all working together now in this exciting moment in time,\u201d Tawfik said. \u201cWe\u2019re inventing the next mode of transportation \u2014 one that\u2019s going to affect everybody\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Students and community members at Fresno State got an up-close look at the future…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2007,6919,6922,6921,112,114,113,742,6918,1090,6920],"class_list":{"0":"post-6611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-autonomous-vehicles","10":"tag-community-engagement","11":"tag-educational-showcase","12":"tag-fresno","13":"tag-fresno-headlines","14":"tag-fresno-news","15":"tag-fresno-state","16":"tag-self-driving-technology","17":"tag-tesla","18":"tag-transportation-industry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}