Chris is widely regarded as one of the earliest pioneers and leaders in the self-driving industry. Aurora’s mission is to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly and broadly. Chris has 20 years of experience leading automated vehicle programs, which started when he was the Director of Technology for Carnegie Mellon’s DARPA Grand and Urban Challenge Teams. After the DARPA Challenges, Chris helped found and lead Google’s self-driving car program (now Waymo). In early 2017, he co-founded Aurora with Drew Bagnell and Sterling Anderson. He has authored over 60 patents and more than 50 publications. He earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University and Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering from the University of Manitoba.