Chris Gerdes

Self-Driving Race Cars! Made @ Stanford

Imagine a self-driving car — that with the push of a button can get you home safely when you’re too tired to drive or have had a night of one too many drinks. Dr. Chris Gerdes and his team are developing a robotic race car, capable of driving at outrageous speeds while avoiding every possible accident. Gerdes’ research focuses on the development of driver assistance systems for collision avoidance, as well as on new combustion processes for engines.

Prior to teaching at Stanford, Chris was the project leader for vehicle dynamics at the Vehicle Systems Technology Center of Daimler-Benz Research and Technology North America. His work at Daimler focused on safety analysis and simulation-based design of heavy trucks for the Freightliner Corporation.