Soarky mascot standing with car door open

ASU President Crow, CIO Gonick explore the future of tech in Carpool Convos season finale

While Waymo’s autonomous vehicle calculated its route around the Tempe campus at Arizona State University, backseat passengers ASU President Michael M. Crow and Chief Information Officer Lev Gonick recalled watching “The Jetsons” as kids.

“Science fiction is the way we view the future,” Crow said. “We're moving into that future where we're going to have the ability to have machines help us do tasks and help us to do things more efficiently in every possible way.”

While we haven’t quite figured out the Jetsons’ flying car, we are at the cusp of the future-ready state of autonomous vehicles — no driver required. And in Phoenix, Waymo helps to lead the way.

Crow and Gonick’s discussion was captured in the Season 2 finale of the university’s new video series Carpool Convos, hosted by ASU Enterprise Technology. The video series invites leaders, technologists and visionaries to explore the future of technology and innovation … all from the backseat of Waymo’s fleet of autonomous vehicles. 

Tune in to "Uncharted horizons: Leading the way in innovation" with ASU President Michael M. Crow and CIO Lev Gonick


No longer limited to the stuff of science fiction, Crow and Gonick's discussion focused on creating the future, now. Gonick reflected on how the innovation mindset, advocated by resident Crow, is key to the university’s remaining at the forefront of innovation. 

“It’s not about an individual thing, it is about this notion of constantly working and striving to innovate in all things,” Crow responded.

The discussion continued with areas of impact and innovation that ASU leads — now and into the future — including initiatives like ASU’s Dreamscape Learn and ASU Health.  

Touching on the integration of technology, innovation and artificial intelligence in our daily lives, Crow emphasizes the need for continuing innovation to enhance human potential:

"Innovation must be a constant mindset. We believe in harnessing the incredible potential within each human using social, organizational and technological innovation to maximize their capabilities,” he said.

Crow and Lev are featured in the finale episode titled “Uncharted horizons: Leading the way in innovation,” now available for streaming on the website and YouTube

Viewers can also explore the full series, which features topics covering advances in artificial intelligence to learning in virtual reality. See below for the episode and featured guests in Season 2 of Carpool Convos with ASU: 

Watch Season 2 today!