2021-Present

Aurora Innovation

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Aurora Innovation is a tech company founded by the minds behind Waymo, Tesla, and Uber ATG, with the goal of bringing autonomous driving to the world of long-distance trucking. It has been a joy not only to work with so many talented engineers on a meaningful problem, but also witness the company become an industry leader, gain partnerships with many of the leading truck OEMs, build rigor with process and requirements, and mature from low-volume R&D to a real, scalable, working product! That’s right, our trucks actually drive themselves!

I joined Aurora Innovation as a part of the acquisition of Uber ATG in 2021, and have worn a number of different hats since joining the company. I’ve done anything from designing computers from scratch, to simulating entire truck integrations in shock/vibe. Check out more about my experience below!

Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

Currently, I work on the mechanical design team, where I lead the development of the next generation automotive Computer, which I brought from concept through production at Fabrinet Thailand. I have also been a designer on three generations of previous computers and various sensor integrations and ECUs. Below are more details about the position and projects:

  • Own the top level mechanical design, including enclosure, thermal management, and vehicle interface strategy

  • Led cross-functional design reviews with EE, Systems Engineering, Manufacturing, Test, and CAE across the product life-cycle, as well as DFM/DFA reviews to streamline transition to mass production

  • Developed a vacuum-brazed coldplate design, integrating direct-to-chip interfaces, heat pipes, preloaded GPU modules, busbars, and custom PCBAs. Achieved ~$0.5MM in savings over previous O-Ring solutions

  • Partnered with contract manufacturers to develop high-pressure die-cast enclosures and plastic injection molded parts, delivering ~$2MM in program savings

  • Designed hardware to meet stringent automotive environmental standards including ISO 16750, IEC 60068, IEC CISPR 25, and IP5K0 to enable successful DV/PV test campaigns

  • Mentored junior MEs and helped establish best practices for CAD, drawing standards, and validation planning

CAE Engineer II

Previously, I continued my structural analysis role from Uber ATG into my first year at Aurora. In this role I developed detailed structural models of vehicle-level integrations and PCBAs integrated into modules to accelerate the hardware development process and qualify automotive durability specifications. A few highlights from my experience include:

  • Owned the structural analysis of the top level compute integration, generating 9 custom PCBA models to characterize strain limits and assess sensitivity to assembly conditions including amplification/damping

  • Conducted coupled thermo-structural analyses to simulate the effects of thermal expansion on camera integrations, wrote custom euler-angle calculator to ensure calibration integrity across varying temperature gradients

  • Analyzed the full Peterbilt 579 sleeper cabin to qualify 8 custom integrations for automotive durability specs and de-risk validation. Conducted similar work on the Sienna roof, trunk, center console, and quarter panel integrations

  • Modelled critical O-Ring seals and bolted joints on coldplate structures, developing a standard bolted joint analysis methodology for Aurora, grade-dependent torque specifications, and guidelines for fastener selection

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Uber ATG