Raj Rajkumar
George Westinghouse Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Ragunathan (Raj) Rajkumar is the George Westinghouse Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Rajkumar serves as director of the Metro21: Smart Cities Institute, USDOT Mobility21 National University Transportation Center, USDOT T-SET National University Transportation Center, Real-Time and Multimedia Systems Lab, and co-director of the General Motors-Carnegie Mellon Connected and Autonomous Driving Collaborative Research Lab (CAD-CRL).
Rajkumar's research interests lie in all aspects of embedded real-time systems and wireless/sensor networks. In the domain of embedded real-time systems, his interests include but are not limited to operating systems, scheduling theory, resource management, wired/wireless networking protocols, quality of service management, hardware/software architecture, model-based design tools
Rajkumar has received multiple awards, including the Carnegie Science Award in Information Technology, the Steven J. Fenves Award for Systems Research from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and the Outstanding Technical Achievement and Leadership Award from the IEEE Technical Committee on Real-Time
Driverless Vehicles
Education
1989 Ph.D., Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
1986 MS, Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
1984 Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), Electronics and Communications Engineering, University of Madras
Affiliations
Media mentions
Carnegie Mellon University
CMU’s Safety21 leads inaugural Future of Transportation Summit
Transportation safety experts from CMU’s Safety21 partnered with the DOT’s University Transportation Centers to lead the inaugural Future of Transportation Summit in Washington D.C. from August 13th-15th. CMU faculty showcased their research and innovations with the goal of improving transportation safety.
Scientific American
Rajkumar comments on the climate benefits of self-driving trucks
ECE’s Raj Rajkumar spoke with Scientific American about how self-driving trucks can be programmed to travel routes that save fuel.
USA Today
Rajkumar talks flying cars
ECE’s Raj Rajkumar spoke with USA Today about how flying cars could make waves in the future for both travel and industry. “It would reduce congestion by removing some traffic on the road and create a new aviation sector, with new jobs,” he told the outlet.
USDOT
Rajkumar appointed to U.S. DOT advisory committee
ECE’s Raj Rajkumar was selected to serve on the new U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Transforming Transportation Advisory Committee to provide advice to DOT and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg about approaches to innovation.
CMU Engineering
PennDOT Secretary meets Carnegie Mellon transportation experts
PennDOT Secretary Michael Carroll visited CMU facilities at Mill 19 to meet transportation researchers and learn about collaboration opportunities.
Business Insider
Rajkumar shares his thoughts on the new Tesla Cybertruck
ECE’s Raj Rajkumar shares his thoughts on the new Tesla Cybertruck with Business Insider. He says that the material it is made of does not provide as much flexibility, which is critical for vehicle accidents and will require special welding techniques.
CMU Engineering
USDOT Deputy Secretary meets CMU transportation researchers
Carnegie Mellon is working closely with the USDOT to transform the U.S. transportation system through research that focuses on safety, economic growth, climate and sustainability, and equity.
WIRED
Rajkumar comments on Tesla’s Cybertruck design in WIRED
ECE’s Raj Rajkumar comments on Tesla’s Cybertruck design in WIRED. Its stainless steel alloy composition makes it “look as if it’s the output of a student in an in-class ‘Pop Quiz Number 1’ for the course ‘Intro to Car Design,’” he says.
CMU Engineering
Carnegie Mellon awarded $20M for transportation research
Congresswoman Summer Lee and U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announce that CMU will lead consortium that will receive $20 million to create Safety21, a University Transportation Center.
Reuters
Rajkumar quoted on Tesla ruling
ECE’s Raj Rajkumar spoke with Reuters about where Tesla stands in light of a recent verdict that found the automaker wasn’t liable for a crash that had occurred while using Autopilot, its driver-assistant system. “While Tesla won the battle, they may end up losing the war,” Rajkumar said, because the car designs are “far from becoming fully autonomous.”
The New York Times
Rajkumar comments on Tesla’s stainless steel Cybertruck
ECE’s Raj Rajkumar comments on Tesla’s newest invention: a stainless steel Cybertruck. “Tesla thinks they can solve any problem and don’t have to learn from anyone else,” Rajkumar argues. “And then they get stuck in a corner.”
Time
Rajkumar talks Tesla recalls, autonomous vehicle safety
ECE’s Raj Rajkumar spoke with Time about possible safety concerns with self-driving cars amid a recall of more than 300,000 such Tesla models, which prompted the automaker to announce a software update. “These are not straightforward issues to fix,” Rajkumar said. “If they could have fixed it, they would have fixed it a long time back.”