☕️ Already on the Road to Autonomous Driving — Before I Even Knew It 🇺🇸

Honestly, the reason I started dreaming of becoming an autonomous driving developer wasn’t anything grand. I happened to double major in Software & AI at a language-focused university and perhaps the biggest reason was that my favorite movie as a kid was Transformers?

(Now that I think about it, maybe those cars in the movie were a glimpse into the future of autonomous driving. 😉)

As I took more major-related courses and joined the GDSC(Google Developer Student Club), I came across Waymo for the first time. I had heard the term “self-driving” before but that was the first time I truly learned what the technology was and how far it had come.

Then one very very ordinary day, it hit me. That the reason I was drawn into this mysterious field of autonomous driving—despite not being particularly passionate or disinterested in most things—was perhaps because of a feeling I’d carried with me for a long, long time.

🚲 When I was a child

We all have childhood memories that remain vivid no matter how much time passes. For me, it was the day I first learned to ride a bike.

Even back then, I wasn’t very good with physical activities (still not 😅), so I fell a lot. And I probably didn’t look forward to practice the next day either. But still, I got back on the bike—maybe it was because the sky was so beautifully blue that day. (TMI: I absolutely love blue skies.)

If the sky hadn’t been that blue, I wonder if I’d still be on this path today.

And I wonder how others learned to ride their first bike.

For me, my mom held onto the back of my bike while I practiced again and again. Eventually, I was able to ride on my own. The moment I rode along the Han River for the first time is still so clear in my memory. It wasn’t just about getting from one place to another. It was about ‘riding at my own pace, toward wherever I chose to go.’

That wasn’t just movement—it was ‘freedom’.

🌆 So, the road I'm taking is

When I made up my mind to become an autonomous driving developer, I felt that same emotion again. What if anyone, anywhere, at any time, could move freely—no matter the reason? If technology could make that happen, then it wouldn’t just be engineering. It would be a form of technology for people—technology that protects and empowers.

And so I made a decision. It might sound strange but the person who helped me ride my bike back then couldn’t actually ride one herself. Just like her, I may still be lacking in many ways, but maybe I can become the kind of developer who holds the back of someone’s car—with care and quiet strength.

I may not build a flashy, shape-shifting Transformer.. But I want to become someone who quietly protects the everyday lives of others. A person who quietly watches over someone’s daily life, a developer who can be trusted and left behind