Siddartha Khastgir is an automotive engineer on a mission to bring self-driving cars to a safe reality. Siddartha is an award-winning automotive engineer and an engineering evangelist. Siddartha has been recognised both nationally and internationally for his applied research contributions, including featuring in the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2018 in the Industry list, and a TEDx speaker.

After his PhD at WMG, University of Warwick, UK, Siddartha now is the Head of Verification & Validation for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles at WMG, University of Warwick, leading various CR&D projects at WMG worth over £5M. Siddartha’s research focuses on testing and safe introduction of driverless cars.

He has a diverse industrial experience in the automotive industry in different parts of the world: India, Germany and now in the UK, leading multi-cultural teams to deliver large commercial projects successfully.

A Chartered Engineer, Siddartha is a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), UK. He is UK’s technical representative on International standards (ISO) committee (ISO TC 204/WG14 and ISO TC22/ SC33/ WG9) and is a part of the international team of experts working to create international (ISO) standards for automated driving. Currently, he is the lead author of a proposed international standard on selfdriving shuttles/pods.

Siddartha is a firm believer in giving back to the engineering profession by inspiring students into engineering, upskilling and re-skilling (young and experienced) engineers. An active volunteer of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) UK, he was elected to the IMechE Council and also as the Chairman of IMechE’s  International Young Member Committee (IYMC)  (representing over 20,000 IMechE’s international young members) and Member of IMechE Council. He has focussed his activities on increasing digital offerings of professional courses/webinars for young members internationally to help them to upskill themselves

In 2017, Siddartha was named TechWorks Young Engineer (Under 30) of the Year 2017, UK’s premier award in the tech industry. He was also awarded the ITS UK Young Professional of the Year 2017 by ITS UK for his contributions in the field of Intelligent Transportation Systems. His research focus is on testing of driverless cars.

Siddartha is a football enthusiast and an ardent follower of Manchester United F.C. In his spare time, Siddartha likes to read biographies and non-fiction books.