Nissan’s Dr. Maarten Sierhuis named MotorTrend Software-Defined Vehicle Innovator Awards winner

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Dr. Maarten Sierhuis, Global Director of Nissan’s Alliance Innovation Laboratory in Silicon Valley, was honored as a winner of MotorTrend’s inaugural Software-defined Vehicle (SDV) Innovator Awards in the Leader category. The category recognizes those who are guiding teams to use software applications to transform the automotive industry.

During his time at Nissan, Dr. Sierhuis has led a team of researchers tasked with developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies for autonomous vehicles, connected vehicles and Human-Machine Interaction and Interfaces (HMI²) to help shape the future of intelligent cars capable of driving themselves. He is also heading up Nissan’s participation in a partnership with Sierra Space and Teledyne Brown Engineering to design a next-generation Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) that will support future exploration on the moon. The project will extend Nissan’s automotive technology and design capabilities to space, with the intention to bring learnings back to earth-bound vehicle applications.

As part of its Ambition 2030 long-term vision, Nissan intends to bring advanced driver-assistance and intelligence technologies to more customers. That includes the goal of expanding Nissan ProPILOT technology to over 2.5 million Nissan and INFINITI vehicles by fiscal year 2026, and aiming to incorporate next-generation LIDAR systems on virtually every new model by fiscal year 2030.

Dr. Sierhuis’ career in research and software engineering has spanned more than 25 years. Prior to Nissan, he spent 12 years at NASA. He is founder of a healthcare AI startup, as well as a visiting professor and fellow with the Interactive Intelligence group Delft University of Technology in Netherlands.

Dr. Sierhuis earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from The Hague University and a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence/Cognitive Science from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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