About

Siddartha Khastgir is a highly accomplished professional in the automotive industry, currently serving as the Head of Verification & Validation of Connected & Autonomous Vehicles at WMG, University of Warwick. He has a strong focus on ensuring the safety of CAVs from both technical and public engagement perspectives. Siddartha is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, a Forbes Under 30 honoree, and a TEDx speaker, with numerous awards for his research contributions that have delivered impact to the automotive industry both nationally and internationally. Siddartha has a diverse education background, with a Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Warwick and a Dual Degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT. He also attended Bal Bharati Public School in New Delhi. He has worked for over six years in the industry, with Tata Motors and FEV in Germany, leading multicultural teams in delivering mass production product project teams. In his current role, Siddartha is responsible for defining and executing WMG's long-term research & development strategy for Verification and Validation of CAV technologies. He leads a team of engineers and researchers to deliver various C&RD projects in CAV. Within the area of V&V, his focus is on test scenario definition, the role of simulation, functional safety, SOTIF, Safe AI, and real-world testing. He is also responsible for developing new strategic international collaborations for WMG in the area of CAV. Siddartha is a representative of WMG and the UK on various international standardization and regulatory forums, including ISO, SAE, ASAM, and UNECE. He is the lead author of two ISO standards and the project lead for the ASAM OpenODD project. He is also the technical author of BSI PAS 1883 (ODD Taxonomy). Siddartha's past experiences include working as a PhD researcher at WMG, where he developed safety analysis methods for ADAS and AD systems, developed test methodologies for testing of ADAS and AD systems, and set up a Drive-in Driver-in-Loop Driving Simulator for testing of ADAS and AD systems. He also served as the Chair of the User Behaviour Forum at ITS (UK) - Intelligent Transport Systems. Siddartha's tech stack includes research scientist, test, and AI. With his vast experience and diverse skills, Siddartha is a valuable asset to the automotive industry and a leader in the field of connected and autonomous vehicles.