Our Principal, Ioannis Kanellakopoulos, PhD, is a technology leader with 25+ years of experience in R&D, operations, administration, and management, in both academia and industry. 

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He was a Full Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Electrical Engineering at UCLA, and has significant experience with startups. He is an IEEE Fellow, and a recipient of multiple national and international awards.

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During his academic career, Dr. Kanellakopoulos conducted research on adaptive control of nonlinear systems, with applications to automotive control systems, specifically ADAS (adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, lane keeping, vehicle collision avoidance) and active suspension. He directed a project on automation of heavy-duty vehicles as part of the California PATH Program; one of the most visible results of this research was the “Variable Time-Headway” algorithm for adaptive cruise control, which was demonstrated on a fully-automated heavy-duty (Class 8) 18-wheeler truck and has found widespread use in current adaptive cruise control systems. His UCLA team also designed and built a prototype full-size fully-automated electric vehicle that has been used for research purposes on multiple college campuses.

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Dr. Kanellakopoulos’s involvement with automotive projects started early in his graduate studies, when he collaborated with Ford on projects on cruise control and all-wheel steering. He has directed collaborative projects with several automotive/truck manufacturers and vendors (Ford, Mercedes-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, Freightliner, Gentex, Visteon), both during his academic years at UCLA and later as co-Founder of Iperasys, an automotive startup developing advanced sensor technology for ADAS.