Montana Trailblazers: Aurora Innovation with Trent Berg
"The photonics industry is growing, and it’s growing fast. Photonics companies, like Aurora, are committed to Montana."
The following interview features Trent Berg, who currently lives in Bozeman. Trent is the Senior Manager of Lidar Integration and Test Engineering at Aurora Innovation.
Over the past decade, Montana’s high-tech photonics industry has experienced significant growth. How did you become involved in this cutting-edge field?
“Well, I grew up on my family’s wheat farm near Wolf Point, on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. In 2000, I moved to Bozeman, where I earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at Montana State University. After graduating, I was fortunate enough to jump right into the photonics industry. In the following years, I earned a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from MSU with an emphasis in optics & photonics, after which I became the Lead Photonics Engineer at Bridger Photonics. I worked with Bridger Photonics until around 2015, when I co-founded Blackmore Sensors and Analytics, which was acquired by Aurora Innovations in 2019 for our advanced long-range coherent lidar technology.”
Being innovative and having the drive to launch your own entrepreneurial endeavor is something many Montanans can relate to. Can you share a little insight into how Aurora came to acquire Blackmore Sensors and Analytics, the company you helped co-found?
“From day one, our goal was to develop lidar for autonomous vehicles. We were on a mission to create the safest, most advanced, and most cost-effective lidar for vehicles in the industry. So when it came to the actual technology, we were a logical choice. But I wouldn’t say that was the only reason. Montana has a truly one-of-a-kind environment for photonics, and Blackmore reflected that. So I think that when Aurora saw the combination of top-tier lidar technology that was both safe and high-performing, and a team of highly qualified employees working at a company located in a place that was friendly to innovation, it made the acquisition a no-brainer.”
It’s clear that this Montana-grown company was a no-brainer for Aurora, but why did your team choose Aurora as well?
“A lot went into it, but I ultimately think it came down to values. Aurora made it clear that they weren’t just on a mission to create autonomous vehicles; they wanted to have a positive impact on the world by making our roads safer—and that’s something we could all get behind.”
Aurora often says they are ‘on a mission to deliver the benefits of self-driving—safely, quickly, and broadly.” Could you elaborate on what exactly that means?
“Safety is at the core of everything we do at Aurora. That’s why the first part of our mission statement is “safely”. We will only deploy driverless trucks once we have proven that the technology is safe enough for public roads. That’s why we have such a rigorous approach to testing and validation – we go above and beyond in ensuring that our technology is safe and can be trusted.”
“The next step after establishing safety is to implement it quickly and broadly. We are creating solutions that will improve the safety of our roads and strengthen our supply chains, and we want to make sure that everyone can benefit from them.”
You mentioned how the Aurora Driver can make our roads safer. Could you explain how your innovations can make this possible?
“We have all seen it – distracted drivers, road rage, car accidents, you name it. We all have loved ones who have been impacted at one point by vehicular accidents, but it doesn’t have to be that way. By using a variety of sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar systems, we can create a new kind of ‘eyes and ears’ similar to what a human driver would experience. Except, this driver doesn’t get distracted. It doesn’t get tired. With this new technology, we can detect things that no human being can. Not only can we see further, but we can still see when conditions are unfavorable. That’s a powerful idea, and it has the potential to save lives.”
How can Aurora, and the innovations you are creating, help everyday Montanans?
“I think there are generally two areas in which Montanans are already receiving benefits from our presence in Montana. The first is primarily economic in nature. Montana is a great place to live and grow up, but for a long time, kids had to move away to get a well-paying job. Now, companies like Aurora, and the photonics industry more broadly, are providing a way for the next generations of Montanans to stay here and work in a high-tech field. One way we’re supporting the industry here in Montana is by partnering with Gallatin College and Montana State University to create new training programs for our communities. Autonomous vehicles are going to open incredible new opportunities for jobs, and we want to ensure that we’re helping people have access to training for this new career field.”
“Then there are the benefits of autonomous vehicle technology. If we can eventually deploy this technology in Montana, we could have a serious impact on reducing car accidents and deploying powerful autonomous trucks that can improve the efficiency of the trucking and logistics industry.
What can Montana do to attract other cutting-edge companies like Aurora?
“By far, one of the most important things our leaders can do is to maintain Montana’s openness to innovation. That means not creating shortsighted legislation or regulations that hobble the ability for people to innovate. Making that mistake is the easiest way to stop companies from setting up operations here. Instead, our leaders should be establishing regulatory frameworks that provide a clear path for testing and deployment of cutting-edge technology in Montana.”
“The photonics industry is growing, and it’s growing fast. Photonics companies, like Aurora, are committed to Montana. We just built a brand-new, 78,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility right here on MSU’s innovation campus. Aurora is all in on Montana.”