Derek Phillips in

Derek Phillips

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Head of Perception Engineering at Kodiak
📍 United States

Derek Phillips leads the perception engineering team at Kodiak, developing advanced sensor fusion and tracking systems for autonomous trucks. An alumnus of Stanford University, he specializes in leveraging AI to solve complex real-world problems in robotics, drawing from his experience at Lyft and Facebook.

Beyond his technical role, Derek is passionate about giving back to the community. He is particularly focused on creating opportunities and helping underrepresented minorities get involved in STEM fields, and he actively encourages outreach.

He was named a "Rising Star of Self-Driving Vehicles" for his significant contributions to the industry.

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Experience
7 Years
Current Role
Head of Perception Engineering
Job Level
Mid-senior
Location
United States
Personality Overview

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Priorities

Topics Derek cares about

Autonomous Perception
As Head of Perception Engineering at Kodiak, he oversees the development of robust perception systems combining classical and learned AI approaches for self-driving trucks.
AI Safety
His graduate research focused on characterizing the risk of human drivers, and his work at Kodiak involves deploying safe and reliable autonomous systems on public roads.
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Career

Work history

5-2019
Head of Perception Engineering
Kodiak
6-2018 - 9-2018
Autonomous Vehicle Software Engineering Intern - Lyft Level 5
Lyft
1-2018 - 4-2019
Graduate Research Assistant - Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory
Stanford University
6-2017 - 9-2017
Software Engineering Intern
Facebook
6-2016 - 9-2016
Undergraduate Researcher - Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory
Stanford University
In the press

Media appearances

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Education
2017 - 2019
Master of Science - MS
Stanford University
2014 - 2018
Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
Stanford University
Social presence
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Behavioral profile

DISC profile (public)

DISC behavioral profile

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