Alumnus Sanjay Sood Named ‘40 Under 40’ by Crain’s

Sood celebrated for developing high-definition maps for self-driving cars as vice president at HERE Technologies

Alumnus Sanjay Sood was named to the 2018 class of ‘40 Under 40’ by Crain’s Chicago Business.Northwestern Engineering alumnus Sanjay Sood (’02, PhD ’07) is among the 2018 class of Crain’s Chicago Business’s “40 Under 40.” The annual feature highlights 40 difference-makers under 40 years old that are changing what it means to do business and engage in civic life in Chicago.

With a background in artificial intelligence and machine learning, Sood was recognized for his work as vice president of highly automated driving at HERE Technologies, a company building high-definition mapping systems to support self-driving vehicles. Sood leads a team composed of more than 300 people to develop data-driven systems that improve how automated cars process environments and navigate around obstacles on the road, a necessary aspect to ensure a safe and smooth ride for passengers in self-driving vehicles.

“We’re inventing technology that hasn’t been done before,” Sood told Crain’s. “We’re building software and hardware to collect and process all this data.”

Sood graduated from Northwestern Engineering with bachelor’s degrees in computer science and communication studies and a PhD in computer science, where he was advised by Northwestern Engineering’s Kristian Hammond, Osborn Professor of Computer Science.

Read Sanjay Sood’s “40 Under 40” profile at Crain’s Chicago Business.

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