Chris Urmson is a trailblazer in autonomous driving and one of the foremost minds shaping the future of mobility. As the Co-Founder and CEO of Aurora, he leads a company at the forefront of self-driving technology, working to make transportation safer, more efficient, and more accessible. Before launching Aurora, Urmson was a pivotal figure at Google, where he served as Chief Technology Officer of the company’s self-driving car program, now known as Waymo, helping to take the concept of autonomous vehicles from a radical idea to a groundbreaking reality.
His journey began in academia and research, where he directed the driving software team for Carnegie Mellon University’s entries in the DARPA Grand Challenges—competitions that catalyzed the entire field of autonomous vehicles. With a deep background in robotics and artificial intelligence, Urmson has dedicated his career to solving some of the most complex technical challenges in mobility while ensuring that innovation remains grounded in safety and societal benefit.
Widely recognized as one of the leading voices in the field, Urmson combines entrepreneurial drive with technical brilliance, offering audiences a compelling vision of how autonomous systems will transform industries, reshape cities, and redefine the way people move through the world.