Join us in welcoming Waymo, one of the leading companies in the autonomous car industry, to UCLA! Waymo has prepared a pair of activities for their visit to campus today, the details of which can be found below.

Waymo Car Activation/Display: From 11 AM to 1 PM on Tuesday November 12, Waymo will have one of their very own autonomous cars on display in the Court of Sciences, next to the Geology Building. This is the perfect opportunity to get up close with the cars you might have seen driving themselves around LA, and Waymo staff will be on hand to answer questions you may have about the cars or Waymo in general.

Later in the day, Khaled S. Refaat, a Senior Staff Research Scientist and Manager at Waymo, will be giving a lecture for the CS 201 graduate seminar, going into detail about the AI models and computer science technology Waymo uses to power their autonomous cars. The lecture will be held in the regular CS 201 time and location, at 3400 Boelter Hall from 4 to 6 PM. The lecture will begin at 4:15 PM, as usual, to allow time for the audience to arrive and settle in. See below for more details on Khaled’s talk.

Auditing, Understanding, and Leveraging Large Language Models

Abstract:
In this talk, we will highlight Waymo’s pioneering advancements in autonomous driving, focusing on the pivotal role of deep learning in enhancing prediction and planning capabilities. We will cover the application of state-of-the-art deep learning models, particularly attention-based architectures, to accurately forecast the intent and future behavior of road participants by leveraging historical data and contextual information. This approach empowers autonomous vehicles to make real-time decisions in complex environments. Additionally, we will address key challenges, such as human-robot interaction, intent understanding, and robustness, while outlining promising research directions. This session aims to provide valuable insights into how deep learning is fundamentally transforming the landscape of autonomous driving, paving the way for safer and more efficient transportation solutions.

Bio:
Khaled S. Refaat is a Senior Staff Research Scientist and Manager at Waymo, where he has led advancements in autonomous driving through deep learning applications in prediction and planning. Khaled received his PhD in Computer Science from UCLA, where he was a core member of the Automated Reasoning Group and was recognized with the Northrop Grumman Outstanding Research Award. Before his doctoral work, he conducted research at LAAS-CNRS in France on the stochastic analysis of real-time systems. His research interests encompass deep learning, robotics, and autonomous driving, with a focus on translating cutting-edge research into impactful real-world solutions.