Dr. Maarten Sierhuis
Nissan Research Center, Nissan USA
Chief Technology Director
Dr. Maarten Sierhuis is Chief Technology Director, Silicon Valley. This role has oversight of technical innovation with responsibility to connect Silicon Valley internal research outcomes and external technology intelligence to the Alliance research and advanced engineering functions.
Previously, as Director of Nissan Research Center Silicon Valley, Sierhuis led a team of researchers tasked with developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies for autonomous vehicles, connected vehicles and Human-Machine Interaction and Interfaces (HMI²) to help shape the future of intelligent cars capable of driving themselves.
Prior to Nissan, Sierhuis spent 12 years at NASA where he created a computer language that was used to develop an intelligent system for all communication between Mission Control and the International Space Station. He also developed an autonomous system to monitor and give advice to astronauts during spacewalks.
Sierhuis joined Nissan in 2013. In a career in research and software engineering spanning 25 years, Sierhuis has also worked at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, NYNEX Science & Technology, IBM Corporation, and as a founder of startup Ejenta, as well as a visiting professor and fellow with the Interactive Intelligence group Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands.
Sierhuis earned a bachelor degree in Computer Science from The Hague University and a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence/Cognitive Science from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He is based in Sunnyvale, California.
