Sebastian Thrun
Born 1967 · Age 58
German-American entrepreneur, educator, and computer scientist. Professor at Stanford and Carnegie Mellon, co-founder of Udacity, former Google VP and Fellow, led development of DARPA-winning vehicles and Google's self-driving car, former CEO of Kitty Hawk.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Solingen, West Germany
Sebastian Thrun was born to Winfried and Kristin (Grüner) Thrun in Solingen (then West Germany).
Completed Vordiplom at University of Hildesheim
Completed intermediate examination (Vordiplom) in computer science, economics, and medicine at the University of Hildesheim.
Completed Diplom at University of Bonn
Awarded Diplom (first degree) in computer science and statistics at the University of Bonn.
Started Rhino project at University of Bonn
Began the Rhino robotic research project with doctoral advisor Armin B. Cremers (project mentioned as started in 1994).
Joined Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
Joined CMU Computer Science Department as a research computer scientist after completing his PhD.
Ph.D. from University of Bonn (summa cum laude)
Awarded Ph.D. in computer science and statistics. Thesis: 'Explanation-Based Neural Network Learning: A Lifelong Learning Approach' (July 1995).
Developed first robotic tour guide (Deutsches Museum Bonn)
With Wolfram Burgard and Dieter Fox, developed the world's first robotic tour guide deployed at the Deutsches Museum Bonn in 1997.
Minerva robot installed at Smithsonian (follow-up tour guide)
The follow-up robot 'Minerva' was installed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History for a two-week deployment.
Promoted to Assistant Professor and co-director of Robot Learning Lab at CMU
Became assistant professor and co-director of the Robot Learning Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University.
Co-founded Master's Program in Automated Learning & Discovery (CMU)
Co-founded the Master's Program in Automated Learning and Discovery that later became a PhD program in machine learning/scientific discovery.
Received NSF CAREER Award (1999–2003)
Awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER award (covers period 1999–2003).
Founded CMU/Pitt Nursebot project
Initiated the CMU/Pitt Nursebot project to field an interactive humanoid robot in a nursing home near Pittsburgh (project timeframe late 1990s/early 2000s).
Sabbatical year at Stanford University
Spent a sabbatical year at Stanford University (2001), establishing contacts and collaborations that led to later moves.
Named Finmeccanica Associate Professor at CMU
Returned to CMU to an endowed professorship, the Finmeccanica Associate Professor of Computer Science and Robotics.
Developed mine-mapping robots (CMU collaboration)
Worked with William L. Whittaker and Scott Thayer on mine mapping robot projects in 2002.
Left CMU and joined Stanford University as Associate Professor
Left Carnegie Mellon in July 2003 to become an associate professor at Stanford University.
Appointed Director of Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL)
Appointed director of SAIL in January 2004, leading Stanford AI and robotics research.
Stanley wins the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge
Led development of the autonomous vehicle 'Stanley', which won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge; team members included Michael Montemerlo.
Published 'Probabilistic Robotics' textbook
Co-authored the textbook 'Probabilistic Robotics' (MIT Press) with Dieter Fox and Wolfram Burgard (fall 2005).
Named one of Popular Science's 'Brilliant 10'
Recognized by Popular Science as one of the 'Brilliant 10' in 2005.
Named AAAI Fellow
Recognized as a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).
Junior places 2nd in 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge
The Stanford vehicle 'Junior' (Thrun-led team) placed second in the DARPA Urban Challenge in 2007.
Elected to National Academy of Engineering and Leopoldina
Elected into the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Served as Full Professor at Stanford (CS & EE)
From 2007 to 2011 Thrun served as full professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University.
Contributed to Google Street View (project involvement)
Joined some Google collaborations while on sabbatical and contributed to the development of Google Street View (project development timeframe mid-2000s).
Public disclosure of Google's self-driving cars
Major media coverage (NYT, Oct 9, 2010) and Google's blog post 'What we're driving at' about Google's self-driving car project, which Thrun led development of.
Max Planck Research Award and AAAI Ed Feigenbaum Prize
Received the Max Planck Research Award and was the inaugural recipient of the AAAI Ed Feigenbaum Prize in 2011.
Named 5th-most creative person in business by Fast Company
Fast Company ranked Thrun as the fifth-most creative person in the business world in 2011.
Relinquished Stanford tenure and joined Google
On April 1, 2011 Thrun relinquished his Stanford tenure to join Google as a Google Fellow (later Google VP & Fellow), to work on self-driving and other projects.
Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award (Education)
Recipient of Smithsonian magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the Education category (2012).
Named #4 on Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers
Ranked No. 4 on Foreign Policy magazine's Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2012.
Co-founded Udacity (online education company)
Co-founded Udacity on January 23, 2012 as a private online education organization offering massive open online courses (MOOCs); served as chairman and initially CEO.
Recognized by The Guardian as 'fighter for internet freedom'
The Guardian included Thrun among 20 'fighters for internet freedom' (April 20, 2012).
Named Great Immigrant honoree by Carnegie Corporation
Selected by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as an honoree of the Great Immigrants Award (2013).
Honorary doctorate from Delft University of Technology
Awarded an honorary doctorate from Delft University of Technology (2016).
Assumed CEO role at Kitty Hawk (rebranded by Larry Page)
After Kitty Hawk was rebranded (originally founded 2010), Larry Page put Thrun in charge as CEO in 2016 to lead development of electric aircraft/air taxi projects.
Honorary doctorate from Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN)
Received an Honorary Doctorate (Doctorado Honoris Causa) from Mexico's Instituto Politécnico Nacional on October 16, 2016.
AAAI Classic Paper Award for Monte Carlo Localization
Received AAAI Classic Paper Award (2017) for influential papers on Monte Carlo Localization for Mobile Robots.
Co-founded Cresta and Crossing Minds (AI companies)
Part of founding team of Cresta (2017) and co-founded Crossing Minds (2017); Cresta focused on AI for employee learning and Thrun served as advisor.
Public reveal of Cora (two-person autonomous flying taxi)
Kitty Hawk (and partners) publicly revealed the 'Cora' autonomous two-person flying taxi in 2018; later spun out into joint venture with Boeing (Wisk).
Interviewed in 'Do You Trust This Computer?' documentary
Appeared in the 2018 documentary on artificial intelligence 'Do You Trust This Computer?'.
Udacity CEO transition
Stepped down as Udacity CEO in 2019 and remained on the company's board (reported by multiple sources).
Cora spun out into joint venture with Boeing (Wisk)
The Cora program was spun off in late 2019 into a joint venture between Kitty Hawk and Boeing, becoming Wisk.
ICRA Milestone Award for Monte Carlo Localization papers
Received the ICRA Milestone Award in 2020 for contributions to Monte Carlo Localization for Mobile Robots.
Honorary doctorate from University of Hildesheim
Received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the University of Hildesheim (announcement Jan 23, 2020).
Kitty Hawk 'flyer' program shuttered; layoffs
Kitty Hawk shuttered its Flyer program in June 2020 and laid off around 70 employees as part of a restructuring.
Kitty Hawk announced winding down operations
Kitty Hawk announced in September 2022 that it would wind down operations, after building/flying a fleet and running thousands of test flights.
Stepped down as CEO of Kitty Hawk
Retained CEO role through 2022 and is reported to have left the position in December 2022 when Kitty Hawk wound down.
Launched Sage AI Labs (announced)
Announced the launch of Sage AI Labs (Oct 3, 2023), a well-funded startup focusing on autonomous robotic agents, with former student Bret Kuprel.
Investor in VectorMagic (principal investor, Stanford spin-off)
Listed as one of the principal investors in the Stanford spin-off VectorMagic (date of investment not specified in source).
Ongoing adjunct professorships (Stanford, Georgia Tech)
Holds adjunct professor roles at Stanford University and at Georgia Tech (timing of appointments variable/ongoing as per sources).
Key Achievement Ages
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