Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Innovator; Founder of Udacity; Co-Founder of Google X; Creator of Waymo & Street View
Sebastian Thrun Biography
Sebastian Thrun is a German-American computer scientist, entrepreneur, and educator known for his contributions to artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and online education. Thrun began his academic career as an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University, where he collaborated with Professor Tom Mitchell in the field of machine learning. He later joined Stanford University as an associate professor, eventually becoming a full professor and head of the university's Artificial Intelligence Lab.
Thrun led a team that won the $2 million Defense Department Grand Challenge by developing an autonomous vehicle that completed a 132-mile course across the Mojave Desert. The vehicle, Stanley, is displayed at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. This achievement led to Thrun's collaboration with Larry Page, co-founder of Google, resulting in the co-founding of Google X. At Google X, Thrun initiated several high-profile technology projects, including Project Chauffeur, which evolved into Waymo, a leader in autonomous vehicle technology and robotaxi services. He also contributed to the development of Street View, Google Glass, Google Brain, and Google Wing.
In the field of education technology, Thrun and Peter Norvig offered the "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence" course online at Stanford, enrolling over 160,000 students from more than 190 countries. This initiative marked the emergence of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) model. Thrun subsequently founded Udacity, an online education company that introduced the nanodegree and expanded access to technology education for millions of students globally. Udacity was later acquired by Accenture to support the LearnVantage reskilling platform. Thrun is also the co-author of "Probabilistic Robotics," a widely used textbook in robotics education.
Thrun has published more than 380 scientific papers and 11 books, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. His recognitions include the IEEE ICRA Milestone Award for robotics and automation, the AAAI/EAAI Outstanding Educator Award, the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal for contributions to science and technology, and the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award. He has received an honorary doctorate from the Georgia Institute of Technology and has been recognized in the TIME Best Inventions Hall of Fame for Street View. Fast Company named Thrun among the most creative people in business, and Foreign Policy listed him as a top global thinker. Thrun serves as an adjunct professor at Stanford University and is a former director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab. He is a frequent speaker on artificial intelligence, robotics, and technology innovation.
Sebastian Thrun Videos
Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive: Sebastian Thrun on Waymo's Early
Sebastian Thrun co-founder of the Moonshot Factory for a conversation about the history of Waymo and Google X the ethics of innovation.
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What topics does Sebastian Thrun speak about?
Sebastian Thrun is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Artificial Intelligence, Business, Change Management, Disruptive Thinking, Education, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Futurism, Inspirational, Leadership, Motivational, Personal Growth, Robotics, Technology, Thought Leadership, World Affairs -
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Sebastian Thrun is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics. The estimated speaking fee range to book Sebastian Thrun for your event is $50,000 - $100,000. Sebastian Thrun generally travels from San Francisco, CA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Zack Kass, Cassie Kozyrkov, Allie K. Miller, Adam Cheyer and Sol Rashidi. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Sebastian Thrun for an upcoming live or virtual event.
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