2021-2025
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. During my time at Aurora, it was 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, Aurora trucks actually drive themselves!
I joined Aurora Innovation as a part of the acquisition of Uber ATG in 2021, and wore a number of different hats since joining the company. I’ve done anything from designing computers from scratch, to designing camera integrations, to simulating entire truck integrations in shock/vibe. I really enjoyed the level of ownership and impact I had at Aurora, and the ability to mentor interns and younger engineers. Check out more about my experience below!
Senior Mechanical Design Engineer
During my time on the mechanical design team, I was mechanical lead for the next generation automotive Computer, which I brought from concept through production at Fabrinet Thailand. I also was a designer on three generations of previous computers and various sensor integrations and ECUs. Below are more details about the position and projects:
Owned 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