The UMD Department of Physics cordially invites you to the

Irving and Renee Milchberg
Endowed Lecture

with

Missy Cummings

George Mason University

on

The Illusion of “Self”-Driving Cars

Tuesday, March 10, 2026
3:30 p.m.
John S. Toll Physics Building, Room 1410

Paid parking is available on the roof of Regents Drive Garage. Please visit a pay station before you leave the garage roof. Additionally, the free #104 ShuttleUM bus runs between the College Park Metro Station and Regents Drive at about 15-minute intervals.

Questions? Contact the Department of Physics at physchair-rsvp@umd.edu or 301-405-5944.

About the Talk

Self-driving vehicles are coming to the DC area in the summer of 2026 but are they up to the task? Companies like Waymo and Telsa are jockeying for pole position but suppressing a secret - no company has any actual self-driving cars as they all require remote human supervisors. Recent self-driving vehicle incidents are examined, revealing critical gaps in current industry practices, with potential threats to public safety. Then, drawing on more than 35 years of U.S. military experience with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote operations, I will discuss the five lessons directly applicable to self-driving cars: latency constraints, the importance of human‑centered workstation design, the challenges of managing operator workload, the need for systematic operator training, and the necessity of robust contingency planning. Lastly, the danger of AI hype and the importance of techno-realism will be discussed.

About the Speaker

As one of the U.S. Navy’s first female fighter pilots and an engineer, Mary “Missy” Cummings is accustomed to breaking barriers and solving problems.

A naval officer and military pilot from 1988-1999, Cummings was one of the U.S. Navy's first female fighter pilots. She is now the director of Mason's Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC) and a professor at George Mason University. She holds faculty appointments in the Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computer Science departments. She is an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Fellow and recently served as the senior safety advisor to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Cummings received her BS in Mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1988, her MS in Space Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1994, and her PhD in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2004.

About the Lecture

University of Maryland Professor of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering Howard Milchberg, his wife Rena, and their three children Moses, Mollie, and Max, established this lecture in memory of Howard's late parents, Renee and Irving Milchberg. Renee and Irving were witnesses to and victims of what can happen to society when ideology and lies are accepted in lieu of facts. Howard's own decision to study physics was motivated by a compelling need for clarity and truth, which grew out of his parents' experiences. The Milchberg family hopes this lectureship will serve to honor the legacy of Renee and Irving by continuing to give voice to facts and evidence, vital for a civilized society.