Chris Gerdes is Field Safety Architect at Waymo, focusing on developing practical, scalable methods to identify and mitigate safety issues in autonomous vehicle field operations.

Chris is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Emeritus, at Stanford University and former Director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS). His laboratory at Stanford developed a number of vehicles including Niki, a Volkswagen GTI capable of turning a competitive lap time around the track without a human driver; Marty, the electrified, automated, drifting DeLorean; and Takumi, a Toyota Supra that performed automated drifts in tandem with its sibling, Toyota Research Institute’s Keisuke. 

His experience extends to public service, having spent a year on detail at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). While there, he served as the first Chief Innovation Officer and contributed to the development of the U.S. Federal Automated Vehicle Policy.

Chris was a co-founder of Peloton Technology, a truck platooning company, and served as its Principal Scientist before his time at the USDOT. He also provided safety guidance as Safety Advisor for Ford’s autonomous vehicle program.