Carnegie Mellon University
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.

CMU Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Raj Rajkumar has been working on autonomous vehicles for over a decade, and continues to drive autonomous car technology into the future. Led by Rajkumar, Ottomatika is a CMU spinoff company focused on automating driving functions that will increase the safety, efficiency and affordability of transportation. 

The company was acquired by the global vehicle technology company Delphi Automotive PLC in 2015. Together, Ottomatika’s software and Delphi’s advanced network of sensor technology enabled the longest drive by an automated vehicle in North America, staying in autonomous mode for 99 percent of the 3,400 mile-trip between San Francisco and New York.