I was glad to be in the audience as the 525 Foundation Lecture Series kicked off with an engaging and informative lecture by Loughborough University’s Professor Rachel Thomson on “The Future of the Motor Car”.  

Professor Thomson mastered the delicate task of clearly conveying complex ideas, while providing enough detail to satisfy those already knowledgeable on the topic. I was drawn to the lecture by my passion for preventing climate change and so was pleased when Professor Thomson discussed electric cars. While they may be the future, she highlighted the wide-ranging and co-ordinated response required to make them successful: city-centre charging points involve town planners, politicians and engineers, and renewably generated electricity for the cars needs investment and scientists.  

Professor Thomson’s comments on driverless cars were also thought-provoking, covering areas I had never considered before. How would a driverless car let a pedestrian know they are safe to cross a road, for example? And what about the risk the system is hacked?  

This lecture was a fantastic start to the series and I’d like to thank Professor Thomson for giving up her evening for us as well as thank the school for giving us pupils the chance to exercise our intellectual curiosity through this lecture series. 

Written by: Matthew, Year 13

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