Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE: ALV and SSE: ALIVsdb), the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems, strengthens its capabilities with yet another effort towards developing leading knowledge within Driver Behavior, Autonomous Driving and Real Life Safety. The new Advisory board presented today welcomes PhD Chris Urmson – Director of Google’s Autonomous Driving project, as well as PhD Natasha Merat – group leader in Safety and Technology at University of Leeds.
Autoliv has a long-standing tradition of leveraging external competences and of forming close ties with distinguished persons in order to add to the company’s development. For instance, the idea that morphed into the ground-breaking innovations of side airbags and inflatable curtains was a direct result of an idea sprung from a meeting of Autoliv’s very first Advisory board, back in 1984.
Today, Autoliv’s Research Advisory Board consists of seven people, with backgrounds ranging from technical development to research and with deep knowledge within e.g. Biomechanics. With Chris Urmson and Natasha Merat onboard, Autoliv gives an indication of their own view of the direction of a company leading within automotive safety systems:
“It is no secret that the developments within autonomous driving are going to change traffic behaviors and entail completely new challenges. I am very glad that we have managed to close ties with two great people within automated driving and driver behavior”, says Jan Carlson, Autoliv’s Chairman, President and CEO.
The Research Advisory Board formally meets once per year, however the greatest value lies in members exchanging ideas, theories and insights from their respective fields on an ongoing basis. A fruitful labor, which results in academic progress as well as in new products and strategies for the automotive safety market.
As of today, the Research Advisory Board consists of:
- New! Natasha Merat – PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor and Group leader in Safety and Technology at University of Leeds. Key interest in Human factors of highly automated driving and Driver behavior, especially driver distraction and the influence of new technologies in driving.
- New! Chris Urmson – PhD in Robotics, Former faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University and Director of Google’s self-driving car project.
- Jeff Crandall – PhD in Mechanical Engineering (1994), Associate Professor and Director of Center of Applied Biomechanics, University of Virginia. Key interest in biomechanics, computational mechanics and vehicle crashworthiness.
- Jan Olsson – MSc Mechanical Engineering. Autoliv Vice President Engineering (1997-2005) and Research (2005-2014).
- Jan Carlson – Autoliv’s Chairman, President and CEO.
- Johan Löfvenholm – Group Vice President Product & Process Development.
- Ola Boström – Senior Director, Autoliv Research.
