Carnegie Mellon University

Raj Rajkumar

Raj Rajkumar

George Westinghouse Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Address 5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Bio

Raj Rajkumar is a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering and co-director of the General Motors-Carnegie Mellon Vehicular Information Technology Collaborative Research Lab.

Perhaps you already think of your car as a "companion." Faculty like Rajkumar are thinking of ways to bring your vehicle to life with information technology — giving you a car that will know you and help you, inform and entertain you, and even take care of itself like a proper traveling companion.

Rajkumar and other scientists like him explore the many intricate engineering domains of vehicle operation in their quest for some answers to what's possible in the cars of tomorrow.

Education

Ph.D., 1989 
Carnegie Mellon University

Research

Keywords

  • Connected and autonomous driving
  • Cyber-physical systems
  • Embedded and real-time systems
  • Wired/wireless networking

Related news

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

USDOT Deputy Secretary Meets CMU Transportation Researchers

USDOT Deputy Secretary Meets CMU Transportation Researchers
Monday, June 13, 2022

Rajkumar quoted on Tesla issues

Raj Rajkumar was quoted in Gizmodo on the drawbacks of steering technology in self-driving cars amid new reports of Teslas randomly braking on the road.
Monday, May 16, 2022

Rajkumar interviewed on international chip shortage

ECE’s Raj Rajkumar was quoted in an article published by WESA on how the international microchip shortage has disrupted research at CMU.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Mill 19 opening signals new era of manufacturing

Carnegie Mellon University researchers and robots will soon occupy a state-of-the-art facility at the newly constructed Mill 19 building on the 178-acre site known as Hazelwood Green.
Thursday, July 11, 2019

Rajkumar quoted on the challenges of autonomous vehicles

As technology experts have pointed out, teaching machines to understand nuanced aspects of human behavior and handle the subtleties of each culture’s driving mannerism is an even harder task.
Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Rajkumar comments on the roles of human minds and AI in self-driving car safety

For years, engineers have developed technologies for autonomous cars; however, these technologies are making human-driven cars safer at a rate that could actually delay the adoption of driverless vehicles.
Friday, June 14, 2019

Rajkumar points out the limitations of Tesla’s Autopilot technology

ECE’s Raj Rajkumar was recently quoted by The Verge in an article about Tesla’s Autopilot technology.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Rajkumar comments on Tesla’s future plans

ECE’s Raj Rajkumar was recently quoted by The Associated Press in an article concerning Elon Musk’s plan to start converting Tesla’s electric cars into self-driving vehicles for 2020.
Wednesday, May 01, 2019

Rajkumar talks about building public trust in AV’s

Autonomous vehicles are slowly creeping onto our roadways and into our lives, but it will take time to build trust between human and AV.
Friday, February 22, 2019

Rajkumar addresses pace of AV development

Inclement weather in particular can cause major interference to vehicles’ sensors, explains ECE’s Raj Rajkumar. “It’s like losing part of your vision,” Rajkumar tell the Associated Press.
Friday, October 05, 2018

Rajkumar on self-driving cars

Raj Rajkumar was interviewed about the progress of self-driving cars, and how much more research needs to be done for autonomous vehicles to surpass the driving abilities of humans.
Tuesday, October 02, 2018

Rajkumar comments on autonomous vehicle company partnerships

Raj Rajkumar was quoted in a Wired article about Ike’s self-driving trucks.
Monday, October 01, 2018

Rajkumar comments on public transit and minority involvement

Raj Rajkumar spoke with The New York Times about Phoenix’s rail extension project and minority protests.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Rajkumar quoted by Wired on AVs and pedestrians

Wired quoted ECE’s Raj Rajkumar on how autonomous vehicles might determine a pedestrian’s intent to cross a road.
Monday, July 09, 2018

Company that acquired CMU spinoff poised for future competition

Ottomatika, a Carnegie Mellon spinoff specializing in autonomous driving technology originally started by ECE’s Raj Rajkumar, was mentioned in a story in Forbes on competition for the future of the autonomous vehicle (AV) market.
Saturday, June 09, 2018

Rajkumar wary of self-driving vehicle manufacturer claims

“Consumers need to be extremely cautious about the claims being made,” says ECE’s Raj Rajkumar.
Monday, June 04, 2018

Rajkumar comments on autonomous trucking development

Raj Rajkumar commented for Ars Technica on how autonomous vehicle technologies are changing the future of the trucking industry.
Friday, June 01, 2018

Rajkumar analyzes causes of fatal Uber accident in Arizona

As investigators continue to unravel the details behind the Uber accident in Arizona which left one dead, ECE’s Raj Rajkumar spoke with The Wall Street Journal about what exactly went wrong in those crucial seconds after the vehicle detected the pedestrian.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Rajkumar discusses autonomous vehicle safety on “If Then”

Elon Musk has sparked a lot of conversation recently with his assertion that the media is misrepresenting the safety of self-driving cars, and that Tesla’s autopilot feature has already saved lives.
Thursday, May 10, 2018

Rajkumar quoted in The Verge

The Verge quoted Raj Rajkumar on how Tesla enables its semi-autonomous vehicles.
Friday, April 27, 2018

Rajkumar quoted by USA Today on Uber crash in Tempe

USA Today quoted Raj Rajkumar about sensor reliability in the fatal Uber crash in Tempe, AZ.
Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Rajkumar quoted on Uber collision

Bloomberg Technology quoted Raj Rajkumar on sensor and software limitations in the Uber collision in Tempe, Arizona.
Friday, March 09, 2018

Metro21: Smart Cities Institute launch

The Smart Cities Institute is a campus-wide academic center that will address the complex challenges facing metro areas in the 21st century and build on the exciting work that has already come out of Metro21.
Monday, December 04, 2017

Rajkumar quoted on semi-autonomous big rigs in city and highway settings

With the recent announcement of Tesla's electric 18-wheeler, the conversation on autonomous vehicles is moving toward applications for trucking companies.
Monday, November 13, 2017

Rajkumar quoted on self-driving car lidar tech

Self-driving car companies are expanding their testing locations to cities with narrow, bumpy roads, bad weather, and culturally-specific driving conventions. Using a combination of radar, lidar, laser scanners, and cameras, self-driving vehicles are gearing up to work in the worst conditions possible.
Monday, October 23, 2017

Rajkumar awarded for innovation

The Pittsburgh Business Times honored two College of Engineering faculty members with their 2017 Innovation Awards. They each founded or led companies that made great advances in their fields. CEE’s Burcu Akinci developed, through LeanFM Technologies, systems to more predictably manage facilities. The technology provides “a clear picture” of a facility by integrating its variousdata, from autonomous systems to blueprints. ECE’s Raj Rajkumar led Ottomatika to ensure “safety, efficiency and affordability of [autonomous] transportation.” The company conducted a “3,400 mile-trip” for an almost entirely autonomous vehicle.
Friday, September 08, 2017

Rajkumar comments on challenges faced by new Uber CEO

Raj Rajkumar was quoted in The Verge regarding Uber’s hiring of Dara Khosrowshahi as the replacement for former CEO Travis Kalanick. Khosrowshahi finds himself in a challenging situation with the tech and ride-sharing giant, a company that, under Kalanick, fostered a culture of toxicity and hostility towards women.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017

A grand challenge

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) gathered for a regional meeting and symposium at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute to discuss cybersecurity, which is now one of the greatest challenges in the 21st century.
Monday, February 13, 2017

Rajkumar quoted in US News on Tesla Model 3

Raj Rajkumar was quoted in US News on the Tesla Model 3 release date.
Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Rajkumar quoted in Wired on Tesla's plan for self-driving vehicles in 2017

Raj Rajkumar was quoted in Wired on Tesla's plan to bring self-driving cars to the consumer by the end of 2017.
Tuesday, December 06, 2016

CMU awarded $14 million from US DOT for mobility research center

Carnegie Mellon University will receive $14 million over the next five years from the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) to establish a new National University Transportation Center (UTC).
Monday, December 19, 2016

Rajkumar named Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors

Raj Rajkumar, the George Westinghouse Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, has been named a 2016 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
Thursday, December 15, 2016

Rajkumar quoted in Verge

Raj Rajkumar was recently quoted in The Verge on the future of self-driving cars under the Trump administration.
Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Rajkumar quoted in Guardian, Automotive News, and CityLab

Rajkumar was quoted in The Guardian, Automotive News, and CityLab on when we can expect to see safe, fully autonomous vehicles
Friday, July 29, 2016

Rajkumar featured in Werner Herzog documentary

The Werner Herzog documentary featuring several CMU scientists - Raj Rajkumar, Marcel Just, J. Michael Vandeweghe - will premiere in Pittsburgh on Friday, July 29, at the Regent Square Theater.
Monday, July 11, 2016

Rajkumar and autonomous vehicle featured in Voice of America

ECE’s Raj Rajkumar and Carnegie Mellon’s autonomous vehicle were featured in Voice of America. Rajkumar explains some challenges facing the technology, including navigation around the city.
Monday, June 27, 2016

Rajkumar featured in ReadWrite and Insurance Journal

Raj Rajkumar was featured in ReadWrite and Insurance Journal for his demonstration of CMU’s self-driving car, which he has helped develop.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Rajkumar, Metro21 mentioned in Route Fifty

Raj Rajkumar and Carnegie Mellon’s Metro21 initiative have been mentioned in an article in Route Fifty on the city of Pittsburgh’s participation in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge.
Monday, March 21, 2016

Rajkumar quoted in Reuters, NYT, Daily Mail, and Yahoo on Google

ECE Professor Raj Rajkumar has been mentioned in Reuters, The New York Times, Daily Mail, and Yahoo Finance, discussing the desire of Google’s self-driving car group to forge partnerships with established car manufacturers to build vehicles.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Rajkumar featured on CBS This Morning on autonomous vehicles

Professor Raj Rajkumar has been featured on CBS This Morning to discuss driverless car technology and how long we have until it goes mainstream.
Monday, January 11, 2016

Rajkumar featured on CNBC’s Closing Bell

Raj Rajkumar was featured on CNBC’s Closing Bell on the possibility of Tesla and others being able to bring a fully autonomous vehicle to market.
Monday, January 04, 2016

Rajkumar quoted in Fast Company on Motobot

ECE Professor Raj Rajkumar was quoted on Fast Company’s Co.EXIST blog on Motobot, Yamaha’s new motorcycle-riding, humanoid robot.