Jacob Huffman

Jacob Huffman is a software engineering tech lead at Waymo, with a multifaceted background spanning software engineering, data engineering, robotics, aerodynamics, aircraft design, propulsion, control systems, and autonomous vehicle performance evaluation. He excels in addressing novel, multidisciplinary problems and has a track record of significant contributions to innovative projects.

Notably, Jacob played a key role in designing and developing an aircraft that executed the first commercial drone delivery in the USA, which is now part of the Smithsonian's collection. At Waymo, he is deeply involved in enhancing the evaluation of self-driving vehicles, particularly focusing on behavioral and planner evaluation. Jacob has pioneered the development of novel evaluation products that have set the direction for evaluation processes at Waymo, driving efficiency and scalability across multiple teams and developers.

Having written thousands of lines of high-quality code for Google, Jacob thrives on addressing challenges that blend intricate data science with the requirement for scalable operations. He has contributed to designing systems that support scalable and maintainable analysis of extensive self-driving data, covering millions of miles.

Jacob Huffman pursued a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and later completed a Master of Science (MS) in Dynamic Systems and Controls at UC San Diego. With a robust educational foundation and a rich professional trajectory, Jacob has held various key roles across renowned organizations, including his current position at Waymo, where he leads software engineering efforts.

His previous experiences include serving as an Aerodynamics Team Lead, Aircraft Designer, and Senior Software Engineer at Google, as well as contributing as a Control Algorithms Engineer at Cymer. Jacob also has a background as a Teaching Assistant for Signals and Systems at UC San Diego, an Electronics Warfare Engineer in the United States Air Force, and a Research Assistant focusing on software development at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jacob Huffman's rich expertise, coupled with his passion for tackling challenging problems across diverse domains, makes him a valuable asset in the realm of software engineering, data analysis, autonomous vehicles, and complex systems design.