# Self Driving Cars 101 > Self Driving Cars 101 is a global, open professional community for the autonomous vehicles industry. We run a network of in-person meetup chapters in 10 cities, host online events, and connect engineers, founders, researchers, and operators across the AV/AutoTech ecosystem. The community is non-commercial, founded around 2017, and organized by a volunteer leadership team across cities including San Francisco, New York, Tel Aviv, Detroit, and Phoenix. Membership is free and open to anyone working in or curious about autonomous mobility. ## Chapters Each chapter has its own page on the site, ordered below by membership: - [San Francisco](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/locations/san-francisco): Bay Area chapter, the largest community by membership. - [Tel Aviv](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/locations/tel-aviv): Israel chapter, an AV/AutoTech industry hub. - [Boston](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/locations/boston): Boston and New England chapter. - [Singapore](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/locations/singapore): APAC chapter. - [London](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/locations/london): UK chapter. - [Los Angeles](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/locations/los-angeles): LA chapter. - [Detroit](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/locations/detroit): Motor-city chapter focused on traditional automotive crossover. - [New York](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/locations/new-york): NYC chapter. - [Brussels](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/locations/brussels): EU chapter. - [Phoenix](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/locations/phoenix): Arizona chapter in one of the busiest robotaxi markets. ## News & writing - [News hub](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/news): The blog, curated industry headlines, and the AV outlets we follow ourselves — one page, three feeds. - [The Blog — all posts](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/news/blog): Long-form writing from organizers and the community on AV industry analysis, technical deep dives, and meetup recaps. - [Industry News — archive](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/news/industry): Hand-curated headlines from the AV industry press. - [Weekly Briefing archive](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/briefing): Every issue of the weekly digest, with the editor's note, stories and videos. - [Stuff we follow](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/news/follow): Newsletters, podcasts, blogs, and publications the community reads. ## Learn - [Learn hub](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn): Plain-language explainers on how self-driving cars work, plus "The road to autonomy" timeline. - [Under the hood](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/under-the-hood): Every lesson in one place, filtered by subject. - [SAE Levels](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/sae-levels): The six SAE levels of driving automation in plain language: what each level means, who is actually driving, and real examples from Tesla to Waymo. - [The Google approach: all or nothing](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/google-approach-all-or-nothing): Why Google's self-driving project, now Waymo, skipped human-supervised driving: the tests showing people cannot babysit a robot, and the bet it made. - [The DARPA Grand Challenge](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/darpa-grand-challenge): The 2004, 2005 and 2007 DARPA races that launched the self-driving car: who won, what happened on course, and how the teams went on to found Waymo. - [End-to-end self driving](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/end-to-end-self-driving): What end-to-end autonomous driving is, how one neural network replaces the modular pipeline, how the two compare, and which companies use each one. - [Sensing & Perception](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/sensing): How self-driving cars see: cameras, radar, lidar and ultrasonic sensors compared, why most cars fuse them, and why Tesla bets on cameras alone. - [Regulatory compliance](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/regulatory-compliance): Who regulates self-driving cars: Nevada's first law in 2011, the US state-by-state patchwork, federal safety standards (FMVSS), and rules abroad. - [The first self-driving car](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/history-of-self-driving-cars): The first self-driving car depends on what you count: a radio-controlled car in 1925, wire-guided cars in the 1950s, and camera-guided cars from 1977 on. - [Robotaxis](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/robotaxi): What a robotaxi is, how a ride works, why every service is limited to its operational design domain (ODD), and where robotaxis operate as of 2026. - [Waymo vs Tesla](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/waymo-vs-tesla): A balanced comparison of Waymo and Tesla: sensors, maps, software, scale, safety data, and the main criticism of each approach, as of September 2026. - [Autonomous trucking](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/autonomous-trucking): How self-driving trucks work, why they start on highways, the hub-to-hub model, who runs driverless freight in 2026, and the debate over jobs and safety. - [ADAS](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/adas): What ADAS is, which SAE level each feature sits at, how it grew from 1990s cruise control, who builds it today, and why every dollar counts in a car. - [AI foundation models](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/ai-foundation-models): How foundation models, world models and vision-language-action models are rebuilding self-driving software, who ships what today, and where the limits are. - [Glossary](https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/learn/glossary): Plain-language definitions of self-driving terms, from ADAS, ODD and ego vehicle to disengagement and teleoperation, following the SAE J3016 standard. ## Resources - [YouTube — recorded talks](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRa8ZoKj1W8Hb-_QDXL_VQoQtIWvookCk): Full library of past meetup presentations and online events. - [Curated community playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXWLu-IycLVR86s2wjaxSV9ZNihfcUsuf): Community-favorite talks across the years. - [Google Drive archive](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BzGa6Y0V2oCQRkRXTWl2RTlUdHc?resourcekey=0-Eu7vW817eiLeiiEuxzu4CA): Slides and materials from past presentations. - [Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/SelfDrivingCars101/): Event announcements and discussion. ## Social - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/self-driving-cars-101) - [X / Twitter](https://twitter.com/SelfDriveCar101) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/selfdrivingcars101/) - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/SelfDrivingCars101/) ## Contact - Site: https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com - Contact form: https://www.selfdrivingcars101.com/#contact