More than 100 international scholars as well as industry and government leaders from the U.S. and India came together at Florida Polytechnic University this week (July 18-19) to discuss the next generation of green and sustainable technologies. The group convened in the university’s Innovation, Science and Technology Building in Lakeland, for the two-day GCET-2018 USA-India Conference, which featured an array of speakers as well as panel discussions.
Among the many presentations was one on autonomous vehicles by Dr. Rahul Razdan, a Florida Poly professor and senior director of special projects. Razdan said it can be thought of as a green technology because one of the benefits of the proliferation of autonomous vehicles would be reducing the number of cars.
“If you could get a situation where, fundamentally, there are far less cars on the road, they are scheduled in a much better way and the size of the cars are optimized for the actual trip you’re taking, overall you’ll produce much less pollution,” he said.
Razdan said Florida Poly is one of the academic leaders in the testing and verification of autonomous vehicle technology. He believes areas such as planned communities, which are prevalent in Florida, as well as theme parks and university campuses will likely see the technology roll out first since they feature low-speed and more controlled environments.
“We’ll see this gradual process where the technology gets better and improves over time, and eventually we’ll get to the point where we’re totally autonomous,” he said.
In all, the conference featured more than 20 presentations on an array of topics, including technology aimed at purifying indoor air, green nanotechnology and global emissions reduction solutions. Students from Florida Poly and Panjab University in India capped off the conference by providing results of research associated with green and sustainable technologies.
The GCET USA-India Conference was a collaborative effort by Florida Poly, Panjab University and Molekule, Inc. Additional industry participation included representatives from Firmenich and Winsome Intellectual Property Solutions.