03/10/17 – 12/10/17
Location : Coventry
Work: Aurrigo (RDMGroup)

I was working back late at night to get our pod we are sending over to Canada all ready to go, even though it was going over for a static demonstration a lot of work is still required. Everything was a success and it was out the door on its way to Canada! Rest of the week was spent working on LUTZ Pods and preparing the Australian Pod.

I also decided to head into London on a Thursday night for the Australian “BOGAN BINGO” held at the Fulham’s Slug and Lettuce which was an absolute blast. I ended up winning the air-guitar contest… such a proud moment in my life.. haha, it was a great night so much fun was had and definitely going back again, oh did I mention for the prizes you win as part of bingo are holidays trips to EUROPE!! If only I won bingo…

Tuesday the 12^th of October the night before I headed of the Abu Dhabi we all decided to go out for curry, just to celebrate the Pod heading out Canada and saying goodbye to our Australian Intern Alysse who had finished her time with us preparing for the arrival of the South Australian Pod.

03/09/17- 03/10/17

Plenty of excitement happening here at Aurrigo (Division of RDMGroup) in the United Kingdom.

My goal as part of my BBM Skilled Futures award was to learn where the Autonomous and Electric Vehicle industry is heading, gain as much knowledge as possible to bring back to Australia. But now I have been offered to take it that one step further with Aurrigo and be part of the future.

I have been asked to stay on with the company as an Autonomous Vehicle Development Engineer in which I have accepted the role. I am very excited to be a part of this future technology and can’t wait to see the future with it.

20/09/17 – 03/10/17
Location : Coventry
Work: Aurrigo (RDMGroup)

Back to work!
I am working on the Prototype Vehicles and getting Pods ready to be sent around the world (Australia, Canada and USA).  I ran a very important demonstration for Jaguar Land Rover in which they were extremely happy with how everything went.

I also stayed back at night with Stuart the Electronic Engineer working on one of the PODS getting it ready for royalty! We had Miles Garner our Sales and Marketing Director taking the Pod down to Milton Keynes their yearlong celebration of the towns 50^th Anniversary, where Prince William paid a visit was interested in our vehicle, sat inside and had a talk with Miles regarding the technology. So that was pretty exciting to say you worked on future technology that a member of the royal family was interested in.

http://www.ukautodrive.com/royal-seal-of-approval-for-self-driving-pod/

We have also taken on another Australian for a short period over here in the United Kingdom. As our Australian Division is developing our Director in Australia has been seeking out talent to prepare for the future and has spotted a talented young girl doing Electronic Engineering at Flinders University in South Australia. I have been giving her a hand helping where I can and teaching her my side of the job, she will with us for a period of 4 weeks and then head back to Australia.

Always plenty going on.

15/09/17 – 20/09/17
Location : Munich, Germany

Woohoo of to Germany for the Oktoberfest because why not I am in Europe after all!

Jackson Kirby, another BBM Awardee I had become friends with here in England was flying and staying with myself in Munich.

To start of our trip, we had to run through the airport to only have just made it to the gate within seconds of closing which was a bit of excitement. We almost didn’t get to go, but we made it so it was OK.  Two hours later we had landed in Munich and while we were lining up at immigration we noticed nearly every other person on the plane was Australian heading to the Oktoberfest which was pretty funny. We left the airport and headed to our AirBnB for the next few days, which was in Munich. Once we had arrived and all setup Jackson and myself went out shopping for our lederhosens for the Oktoberfest, we decided to go for the real deal and get the proper leather ones which cost just as much as the trip!

The Oktoberfest was an absolute blast, on the first day since Jackson and I were running a bit late due to shopping for our lederhosens and when we got to the event it was taking forever to get into any of the tents, but fortunately our AirBnB hosts had come to the rescue and knew people to get us straight in and to their table to join with all the festivities.

Jackson and I spent a few days also sightseeing around Munich and at the BMW Museum. Germany is a very beautiful place and I look forward to spending more time here in the future.

So it was time to head home, We arrived at the airport an hour and half before our flight, not realizing that Munich’s customs require a lot more time than most airports since the influx of the Oktoberfest goers and due to this we missed our flight so we had to hang around for another 7 hours until we were able to catch the next flight, but we were not the only ones to have been caught up in this we noticed another 6-7 people were in the same boat as us and missed their flights. It was a little annoying about the situation but you can’t do anything about it.

Overall, Fantastic time in Germany enjoyed every bit of it.

13th October, 2017