Randol joined Ike in 2018 and is our Head of Systems Engineering.
What excites you the most about your job? What gets you up in the morning?
I’m really excited every Monday morning to come to work at Ike. The main reason is the team — It is a phenomenal group of people who are extraordinarily talented and also strongly aligned on values. Getting to work with this team means that it doesn’t feel like work at all. Plus, trucks are cool.
Why did you decide to work on automated trucking at Ike?
Validating complex systems is one of the biggest unsolved challenges in automated driving. It is a problem that’s facing commercial vehicles, robotaxis, and passenger vehicles alike and it’s going to be really important in all automation technology. Safety is at the core of that problem. I think automated trucking is the right place to start working on this validation problem. This is because we are able to operate in a simplified driving environment and because we transport goods, not passengers.
I’m convinced that trucking is the right first application of automated driving technologies, and I’m convinced this is the right team to take that to scale.
What’s the most common question you get about automated trucking?
When am I going to see a truck on the highway without a driver? I usually say it’s going to be years, not months.
What will be different about the trucking industry in 10 years as a result of the work we’re doing at Ike?
Today we have point-to-point delivery of goods via trucking that’s managed through a complex network of brokerage, shippers, fleets, and private carriers. In the future, point-to-point will be replaced by multimodal transportation networks, which will allow for much more efficient and flexible movement of goods across the country. Core to this will be a network of automated trucks that will connect major shipping centers. Similarly, I believe automating long-haul freight will be an extremely important part of electrifying Class 8 tractors in cities, which can hugely reduce diesel particulate emission in places like Oakland.
Finally, the way in which Ike is developing this technology will mean that human truck drivers are once again employed in high value, high skill positions that are close to home.
Ike believes automation has the capacity to improve everyone’s lives if approached thoughtfully and responsibly. What does this mean to you?
To me that means that if in the future we find that our product is leading to job decimation or reduced highway safety, then we are building the wrong product and that we should go build something else. It also means that the value proposition of the company is not just to investors, but to customers and the broader public.
What are some of the most important trends in the trucking industry today?
The trucking industry is still adjusting to two realities — the first is that local retail is being displaced by online consumption. The second is that the professional truckers are seeing pressure from all sides: regulation, wages, and delivery times. Those factors combined mean that the trucking industry is in higher demand of drivers than ever before while at the same time, the demands on truckers are higher than before. This leads to a really difficult labor problem.
How will automated trucking impact people who don’t work in the trucking industry?
The answer has to be better than, “consumer goods will be slightly cheaper.” Highly networked transportation has the potential to make goods available to communities in a way that has not been possible in the past. As an example, my brother lives in a rural community in southern Illinois. His family has really limited access to high quality produce. With improved and more affordable networks of goods, that could make those things available to these communities. And then of course, there’s also enormous opportunity to reduce both the likelihood and severity of highway accidents involving commercial vehicles.
What would you be doing if you didn’t work at Ike?
It’s a very long list, but I am really interested in technologies for disaster relief and humanitarian aid. I would really like to make my own consumer grade coffee roaster. And I would really like to go get a PhD in economics.
When you’re not working your day job, what is one of your favorite things to do?
I find any excuse I can to get out of the city and get into the mountains or to the ocean. I really enjoy backpacking, paddleboarding, free diving, and any excuse to be out in the sun. My favorite place to go backpacking is Collegiate Peaks in Colorado.
That’s where you’re from… What’s your favorite part about being from Colorado?
My deep sense of entitlement in being able to have a beard.
Ha! Do you have a standout Ike experience?
So many. Maybe the early days stuff like shopping for mugs and plates at Goodwill for the office. Or being in the truck when we engaged autonomy for the first time. Most recently, the ribbon cutting ceremony when we moved into the new office.
What is one of your favorite Ike catchphrases and why?
Hands Dirty. It means that no job is too small and that no one is above any of the work that needs to get done. It’s a way of avoiding big egos and maintaining a strong team mentality.
Hear! Hear!