Dr. Andreas Reschka portrait

Dr. Andreas Reschka

Safety Engineer & Manager · Autonomous Systems
Physical AI · Stanford LEADer

Silicon Valley, CA

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Chapter 1

The Story

First SAE Level 4 testing in Germany (2010)

First driverless truck on a German Autobahn (2016)

54 indexed publications on Google Scholar, 14 US patents, 2 patent applications, 2,000+ citations

Industry-standard safety concepts now used across AV

I am a Safety Engineer & Manager focused on autonomous systems and Physical AI safety—and a Stanford LEADer. For more than fifteen years I have worked across industry and academia at Pony.ai, DiDi, Zoox, Stanford, and TU Braunschweig, leading safety cases and systems engineering for deployments in the United States and Europe. I blend classical safety and systems practice (ISO 26262, SOTIF, UL 4600, MIL-STD-882) with AI-accelerated engineering, and contribute to standards work through the German BASt Round Table on automated driving and SAE TC 22 SC 32 working groups on functional safety, driving automation, and safety & AI.

Germany → PhD at TU Braunschweig (grade 1.0)

My doctoral research on skills and ability graphs for automated vehicles laid the foundation for safety concepts that would later become industry standard. I led the Stadtpilot team (25+ people) and was part of the breakthrough aFAS project—the first driverless truck on a German Autobahn.

USA → Stanford → Zoox → DiDi → Pony.ai

From visiting PhD student at Stanford's Intelligent Systems Lab to the first systems engineer on Zoox's Mission Assurance team, then autonomous driving safety at DiDi, and now Sr. Director Product, Systems, and Safety at Pony.ai—one continuous thread: making autonomous vehicles safe enough to trust with human lives, on public roads in both Europe and the United States.

Now → Building the next chapter

The work that started with Stadtpilot—proving autonomous driving could work safely—continues as industry-standard safety concepts are deployed across autonomous vehicles. The next chapter is still being written.

Chapter 2

What I Build

Agentic Safety & Systems Engineering

  • AI-accelerated safety case development (ISO 26262, SOTIF, UL 4600, MIL-STD-882)
  • Deep technical work. Domain expertise. Built with care.
  • Blending traditional safety & systems approaches and AI

Autonomous Vehicles

  • 15+ years across Pony.ai, DiDi, Zoox, Stanford, TU Braunschweig
  • First SAE L4 testing in Germany (2010)
  • First driverless truck on German Autobahn (2016)
  • Safety lead for USA and Europe deployments
  • Systems engineering leadership

Physical AI Safety

  • Standards mapping and compliance (SAE/ISO/ANSI)
  • Applicable to robotics and autonomous systems
  • Industry representative (past & present): SAE TC 22 SC 32 WG 8, 13, 14; Round Table automated driving BASt, Germany

Chapter 3

Selected Projects

Pony.ai

Sr. Director Product, Systems, Safety. Safety lead for AV deployments across USA and Europe. Technical lead for systems engineering and safety case (SOTIF, Functional Safety, Cybersecurity). Business Development and regulatory affairs in the USA and Europe. Direct report to CEO Dr. James Peng.

DiDi Research America

Autonomous Driving Systems and Safety Engineer. Technical lead for driverless safety case (SOTIF, ISO 26262). Defined criteria for co-pilot and driverless release. Technical lead for driving metrics from real-world data and simulation. System-design lead for functional architectures.

Zoox

Systems & functional safety (2017–2018); Senior Systems and Validation Engineer (2018–2021). First systems engineer on Zoox's System Design and Mission Assurance Team. Technical lead for safety argumentation (SOTIF, ISO 26262). Lead of first semi-public road testing of Zoox's purpose-built vehicle. Set the bar for driverless deployment criteria. Direct report to CTO Dr. Jesse Levinson.

Stadtpilot (TU Braunschweig)

First fully autonomous test drives in German urban traffic (2010). Led 25+ person team. Developed safety concept and driver takeover mechanisms.

aFAS

First L4 operation of unmanned vehicle on German Autobahn. IAA Innovation Award 2018.

Additional experience

Education

Chapter 4

Publications & Patents

Selected Publications (15 of 50+, h-Index 25)

Top 15 by Scholar citation count. Full list on Google Scholar and in the CV (PDF).

  1. Defining and substantiating the terms scene, situation, and scenario for automated driving. S Ulbrich, T Menzel, A Reschka, F Schuldt, M Maurer 2015 IEEE 18th international conference on intelligent transportation …, 2015 (807 citations on Scholar).
  2. Stadtpilot: First fully autonomous test drives in urban traffic. T Nothdurft, P Hecker, S Ohl, F Saust, M Maurer, A Reschka, JR Böhmer 2011 14th international IEEE conference on intelligent transportation …, 2011 (114 citations on Scholar).
  3. Towards a functional system architecture for automated vehicles. S Ulbrich, A Reschka, J Rieken, S Ernst, G Bagschik, F Dierkes, M Nolte. arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.08557, 2017 (114 citations on Scholar).
  4. Perception collision avoidance. AL King, RM Kling, Y Liu, AC Reschka, RE Somers, C Wang US Patent 11,124,185, 2021 (96 citations on Scholar).
  5. Safety concept for autonomous vehicles. A Reschka Autonomous Driving - Technical, Legal and Social Aspects, 2016 (82 citations on Scholar).
  6. Identification of potential hazardous events for an unmanned protective vehicle. G Bagschik, A Reschka, T Stolte, M Maurer 2016 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV), 691-697, 2016 (75 citations on Scholar).
  7. Szenarien für Entwicklung, Absicherung und Test von automatisierten Fahrzeugen. G Bagschik, T Menzel, A Reschka, M Maurer Workshop Fahrerassistenzsysteme Walting, 2017 (74 citations on Scholar).
  8. Hazard analysis and risk assessment for an automated unmanned protective vehicle. T Stolte, G Bagschik, A Reschka, M Maurer 2017 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV), 1848-1855, 2017 (69 citations on Scholar).
  9. Ability and skill graphs for system modeling, online monitoring, and decision support for vehicle guidance systems. A Reschka, G Bagschik, S Ulbrich, M Nolte, M Maurer 2015 Ieee intelligent vehicles symposium (Iv), 933-939, 2015 (65 citations on Scholar).
  10. Fertigkeiten- und Fähigkeitengraphen als Grundlage des sicheren Betriebs von automatisierten Fahrzeugen im öffentlichen Straßenverkehr in städtischer Umgebung. A Reschka Dissertation, TU Braunschweig (doi:10.24355/dbbs.084-201707280929), 2017 (61 citations on Scholar).
  11. A surveillance and safety system based on performance criteria and functional degradation for an autonomous vehicle. A Reschka, JR Böhmer, T Nothdurft, P Hecker, B Lichte, M Maurer 2012 15th International IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation …, 2012 (60 citations on Scholar).
  12. A method for an efficient, systematic test case generation for advanced driver assistance systems in virtual environments. F Schuldt, A Reschka, M Maurer Automotive Systems Engineering II, 147-175, 2017 (56 citations on Scholar).
  13. Towards a skill-and ability-based development process for self-aware automated road vehicles. M Nolte, G Bagschik, I Jatzkowski, T Stolte, A Reschka, M Maurer 2017 IEEE 20th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation …, 2017 (51 citations on Scholar).
  14. Autonomes fahren. R Matthaei, A Reschka, J Rieken, F Dierkes, S Ulbrich, T Winkle. Handbuch Fahrerassistenzsysteme: Grundlagen, Komponenten und Systeme für …, 2015 (47 citations on Scholar).
  15. Safe, dynamic and comfortable longitudinal control for an autonomous vehicle. A Reschka, JR Böhmer, F Saust, B Lichte, M Maurer 2012 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium, 346-351, 2012 (46 citations on Scholar).

Google Scholar profile · CV (PDF)

Patents (14)

  1. US 11,914,368 — Modifying limits on vehicle dynamics for trajectories (Funke; Joseph et al.)
  2. US 11,814,059 — Simulating autonomous driving using map data and driving data (Reschka; Andreas Christian et al.)
  3. US 11,809,190 — Methods and systems to assess vehicle capabilities (Reschka; Andreas Christian et al.)
  4. US 11,734,473 — Perception error models (Modalavalasa; Sai Anurag et al.)
  5. US 11,697,412 — Collision monitoring using statistic models (Crego; Andrew Scott et al.)
  6. US 11,648,962 — Safety metric prediction (Crego; Andrew Scott et al.)
  7. US 11,648,939 — Collision monitoring using system data (Crego; Andrew Scott et al.)
  8. US 11,625,513 — Safety analysis framework (Bagschik; Gerrit et al.)
  9. US 11,590,969 — Event detection based on vehicle data (Crego; Andrew Scott et al.)
  10. US 11,577,741 — Systems and methods for testing collision avoidance systems (Reschka; Andreas Christian et al.)
  11. US 11,407,409 — System and method for trajectory validation (Olson; Sy Kelly et al.)
  12. US 11,351,995 — Error modeling framework (Bagschik; Gerrit et al.)
  13. US 11,181,922 — Extension of autonomous driving functionality to new regions (Reschka; Andreas Christian et al.)
  14. US 11,124,185 — Perception collision avoidance (King; Andrew Lewis et al.)

Patent applications (2)

  1. US20260116430A1 — OPERATIONAL DESIGN DOMAIN FOR MANEUVERING AND NAVIGATION (Wu; Zhen; Reschka; Andreas Christian)
  2. US20250045491A1 — SIMULATION SCENARIOS IN VEHICLE SAFETY TESTING (RESCHKA; Andreas)

Speaking engagements

Media

Chapter 5

What Matters to Me

🤖 Physical AI systems & safety research
👔 Leadership and international management
🦾 Automation & local-first agentic AI computing
🏎️ Motorsports - Formula 1, Endurance, GT, Rally, Karting, everything
⚽ Soccer - Watching, Managing, Playing
🏂 Snowboarding - I was a snowboard teacher for 7 years.

Chapter 6

Get in Touch

Open to consulting, speaking, and advisory roles. Primary contact via LinkedIn.

View CV (PDF)