About Sebastian Thrun
Sebastian Thrun is a renowned inventor, entrepreneur, and educator, currently serving as the CEO of a stealth startup focused on AI and e-commerce. He is the founder of Udacity, an online education platform, and Kitty Hawk Corporation, a pioneering electric "flying car" company. Thrun is also an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University and Georgia Tech, and was the founding director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL) and Google[x].
Career
Chief Executive Officer
Thrun is running a small stealth start-up at the intersection of AI and e-commerce.
Adjunct Professor
Professor of Computer Science and Founding Director of the new Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL); now Adjunct Professor. At Stanford, Thrun ran the Stanford Racing Team, which in 2005 won the DARPA Grand Challenge, an inaugural race of self-driving cars. As a faculty member ,Thrun published over 400 academic papers and 12 books.With a h-index of 160 he is ocnsistently ranked among the top 15 computer scientists worldwide, see https://research.com/scientists-rankings/computer-science .
Founder
Thrun founded Udacity, an online educational tech platform that has educated tens of millions of individuals worldwide in areas such as AI, machine learning, and software and Web development. In 2024, Thrun sold Udacity to Accenture. Thrun is widely considered the "Godfather" of the MOOC, the massive open online course. Udacity was also the driving force behind the low-cost Master's program in computer science at Georgia Tech, where Thrun serves as an adjunct professor t o the present day.
Founder
Thrun founded and ran Kittyhawk, a leading eVTOL or "flying car" company. With over 30,000 successful flights Kitty Hawk built more than 100 electric eVTOL vehicles that take off vertically, fly, and land, powered electrically. Kittyhawk sold its flagship team and technology to Boeing, where it is now operated as Wisk.aero.
VP, Google Fellow, Founder Google X
In 2009, he founded Google[x], which quickly became Google's innovation factory. Thrun founded and led a number of projects at Google: Streetview, Ground Truth (Google's global mapping effort), Waymo, Google Glass, Google Brain, Google Wing, GCam, and others. Google Brain revolutionized YouTube Gemini, Google's most advanced AI effort. Waymo is the leader in the self-driving car industry.
Education
Honorary Doctorate
Honorary Doctorate - Computer Science
Honorary Doctorate
Honorary Doctorate
Honorary Doctorate
Honorary Doctorate
Honorary Doctorate
Honorary Doctorate
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) - Computer Science and Statistics
Skills
Core technical and professional competencies inferred from his pioneering work in AI, robotics, and education.
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Robotics
Computer Science
Algorithms
Python
Statistics
Mathematical Modeling
Strategic Planning
Venture Building
Product Vision
Team Leadership
Innovation Management
Business Development
Online Education
Curriculum Development
E-Learning
University Teaching
Research & Publication
Autonomous Systems
eVTOL Technology
System Design
Image Processing
Signal Processing
Domains
Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Vehicles, Online Education, E-commerce
Robotics, Aerospace (eVTOL), Technology Incubation (Google[x])
Tags
Visionary, Pioneer, Entrepreneurial, Educator, Data-Driven
Future of Mobility, AI Ethics, Disruptive Technology, Global Education
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