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Current Team Members
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Prof. Dr. Daniel Göhring
Daniel Göhring is a Juniorprofessor for mobile robotics and autonomous vehicles, since 2015. He received his Diploma in Computer Science in 2004 and his PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in 2009 in the field of soccer playing robots. Having worked for a year at the German Aerospace Center in the department of Transport Research, he joined the AutoNOMOS labs in 2010 and lead the Cogitive Navigation group, developing the controller, parts of the high-level planner and simulator. In 2014 Daniel returned to the AutoNOMOS labs after a two year research exchange at the ICSI and UC Berkeley, California.
In his free time Daniel is a passionate runner.
Dr. Bingyi Cao
Bingyi Cao received his doctoral degree in Computer Science from Freie Universität Berlin in 2017. He is currently working as a research assistant in the autonomos group. His research interests include LiDAR-based object detection, SLAM, and data fusion.
Claas-Norman Ritter
Nicolai Steinke
Nicolai Steinke received his M. Sc. in Computer Science in 2017 from the Freie Universität Berlin. Since then he is a member of the AutoNOMOS team and has worked in the projects SAFARI, Shuttles&Co and KIS’M. His research covers world modeling and planning topics such as localization, object detection, tracking and classification, lane based navigation and mapping.
Stephan Sundermann
Former Team Members
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Prof. Dr. Raúl Rojas
Prof. Dr. Raúl Rojas is professor of artificial intelligence (emeritus) at the Institute of Computer Science at Freie Universität Berlin and a renowned specialist in artificial neural networks. He attended university at the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City, where he majored in mathematics and physics. He moved to Germany in 1982 as a doctoral student in economics. In 1994 he became a professor at the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg and later moved to the Freie Universität Berlin. The FU-Fighters, football-playing robots he helped build, were world champions in 2004 and 2005. He and his team were awarded the Wolfgang von Kempelen Prize for his work on Konrad Zuse and the history of computers. Since 2006 Prof. Rojas has been designing technologies related to autonomous vehicles. As part of this project, he led a team to develop the research vehicle ‘Spirit of Berlin’, making it to the semifinals in the DARPA Urban Challenge in California in 2007. Since November 2009 he has been working on the further development of autonomous or semi-autonomous cars as the supervisor of the AutoNOMOS project.
In his free time, Prof. Rojas enjoys economics, reading the newspaper, and sky diving.
Khaled Alomari
Khaled Alomari is a research assistant at the Freie Universität Berlin. He received his Diploma in Electronic Engineering in 2013 and his M.Sc. in Mechatronics Engineering in 2020. After working at the Institute for superconducting Radia-Frequency at the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, he joined the Autonomous Cars group in 2018. His research interests are in autonomous Systems, intelligent control method, deep reinforcement learning, and long-term trajectory planning.
Dr. Ricardo Carrillo
Ricardo got a Doctorate degree at the Freie Universitaet Berlin in 2020. Before that, he studied for his Master’s degree in Control Theory at the CINVESTAV in Mexico City. He focuses on machine learning and its applications on perception and control algorithms of autonomous cars, mainly developing AI agents through continual learning. He likes robotics and actively developed the scaled autonomous car “Autominy”. During his free time, Ricardo enjoys playing board games and biking.
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Georg Bremer
Georg studies computer science since 2004 at the Freie Universität Berlin with a short time stay at Universität Dortmund. He focuses mainly on pattern recognition and computer vision.
In the computer vision lab he works as student research assistant on brake light, taillight and turn signal detection. He also works on obstacle detection at the sides of the car and helped building a tool for creating a database to train a car detector.
Outside of his studies and work he likes to play with his daughter Fenja, if time allows cycling and tinkering on bicycles and everything else.
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Paul Czerwionka
Paul is currently finishing his Diploma thesis in Computer Science. Besides his studies at the Freie Unversität Berlin Paul is continuously engaged in numerous practical applications of computer science across the board. This gave him the opportunities to gain experiences in the fields of search engines, distributed computing and mobile development. With his participation in the competition “creative’08” organized by the publisher Heise he got involved with Artificial Intelligence. Since then he has become a student assistant at the CN-Lab. His task is improving and developing high detailed route maps and algorithms for autonomous vehicles which is also the topic of the Diploma thesis.
In case Paul is not working he is mostly found windsurfing, snowboarding or just standing on his hands.
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Bennet Fischer
Bennet Fischer joined the AI group in 2008 due to his work on humanoid robots. Since 2009 he is a member of the team AutoNOMOS. He is working in the vision lab on the realization of computer vision algorithms inside hardware structures. Bennets main interests lie in the area between computer science and electrical engineering.
For recreation he enjoys the city on foot, via bike or his vintage Lancia.
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Tinosch Ganjineh
Tinosch is the head of the AutoNOMOS project and has been a member of the artificial intelligence workgroup since 2006. In the course of his computer science studies at the Freie Universität Berlin he dedicated his time and energy to the research on autonomous vehicles. Since finishing his master thesis on the same subject, he has joined the workgroup as a lecturer and research associate to obtain his PhD at Berlin’s elite university.
As project leader, Tinosch faces two tasks: Tirelessly keeping up the team’s morale while balancing this effort with obtaining his PhD. His research interest encompasses cognitive navigation, path planning algorithms and artificial intelligence in general.
During his free time Tinosch enjoys driving cars himself for a change and is also a gifted poker player which as a sportsman is up to meet any challenge.
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Gregor Gebhardt
Gregor has been studying computer science at the Freie Universität Berlin since 2008. His main focus is set on artificial intelligence. In February 2010 he became involved in the AutoNOMOS project as a student assistant.
He is primarily concerned with the radar systems and the storage of the log data recorded during the test runs.
In his spare time Gregor does amateur photography or plays soccer.
Xiuyan Guo
Before switching to computer science at the Free University of Berlin, Xiuyan Guo studied electrical engineering in China, gaining rich experience in hardware design and micro-controller and FPGA related programming. He received the B.E. degree in electronic and information engineering, and the M.E. degree in signal and information processing from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, in 2008 and 2011, respectively. Since 2012, he has been studying and working in the AutoNOMOS group as a CSC scholarship student, pursuing his PhD degree, here.
Andreas Hartmannsgruber
Since October 2013, Andreas Hartmannsgruber is working in the cross-divisional advanced development of Continental Automotive GmbH in Regensburg as a PhD Student. The first time he got involved in “Autonomous Driving” during his Master Thesis for the BMW Car IT in Munich, where he built up and programmed a small scale test vehicle for an “Autonomous Driving” framework based on ROS (Robot Operating System). Prior to that, he studied Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (B. Eng.), as well as Electromobility and Power Networks (M. Sc.) at the OTH Regensburg. As a student he was also able to gain practical experience by working part time for the AVL Software & Functions GmbH in Regensburg.
In his spare time he enjoys working out regularly and meeting friends for movie, dinner, drinks and more.
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Steffen Heinrich
Steffen Heinrich studied Computer Science with a minor in electronic engineering from 2006 until 2012 at the Freie Universität Berlin. In 2008 he joined the group for Intelligent Systems and Robotics of Prof. Raúl Rojas as a student assistant and worked on various projects such as “FUmanoids” (soccer playing humanoid robots) and AutoNOMOS (autonomous driving). In 2012 he started an autonomous model car project within the group called “Berlin Racing Team” as an opportunity for students to get in touch with real world challenges of automated driving in a simplified environment.
In his free time Steffen likes to play soccer, but gives plenty of other sport activities a try, e.g. lacrosse, beach volleyball or surfing. He also loves having delicious food and traveling foreign countries.
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Sebastian Hempel
Sebastian began his studies at Wedel in 2004 and graduated with a Bachelor in computer science in 2007. The same year he came to the Freie Universität Berlin and finished there with a master’s degree in 2009. Since November 2009 he works as a research assistant in the AutoNOMOS project.
His task within the team is developing algorithms for LIDAR data processing, primary for the Velodyne HDL-64E2. The main topics are automatic calibration of LIDAR sensors for determining the sensor’s parameters and orientation, obstacle detection for collision avoidance and self-localisation in 3D space.
Besides his activities in context of the project, among other things, Sebastian is interested in the programming language Python and running.
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Gretta Hohl
In 2004 Gretta started her studies in computer science with a minor in physics and psychology at the Freie Universität Berlin. Since 2006 she is working on design, development and programming of autonomous humanoid robot platforms. Her diploma thesis describes the planning system of soccer playing autonomous humanoids. She is interested in sensor technology, signal processing and electronics. Since 2010 she is part of the team.
Her tasks are CAN data analyzing and the construction of electronic modules.
In her leisure time she plays basketball, goes swimming or spends time with her friends.
Daniel Lammering
Daniel Lammering graduated with a master’s degree in computer science at the OTH – Regensburg. In 2013 he wrote his master thesis at Continental Regensburg in the division Automotive Systems and Technology, a cross-divisional advanced development department. The master thesis main focus lied on communication networks like Ethernet and CAN. Since then he has been working as a PhD student within advanced development of autonomous driving at Continental Regensburg. His main tasks are the research and development of system architectures and the intercommunication concerning functional safety according to the ISO26262 standard. He is supporting the team in the EU funded project called AdaptIVe.
Outside of his work as a PhD student he likes going on trips with his motorbike. In general he enjoys all motorsport related activities. Therefore he will be regularly seen at the Nordschleife.
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Tobias Langner
Tobias Langner started to study computer science in 2003 at the Freie Universität Berlin with main focus on robotics and computer vision. Since 2009 he is a member of the FUmanoids, the humanoid robot soccer team of the FU Berlin, and graduated in 2010 with a thesis about robot self-localization. His current work in the AutoNOMOS project comprehends of the detection of cars and pedestrians with classifiers based on Haar-like features. Furthermore he investigates more general approaches of obstacle detection using stereo vision and inverse perspective mapping.
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David Latotzky
David studied computer science since 2002 at the Freie Universität Berlin with political science as minor subject. He is a member of the team since 2007 and participated in the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge. In 2009 he graduated and is now a PhD student.
The processing of data from different LIDAR sensors is his main task in the 3D Lab. His major interest lies in the analysis of driving surfaces, extracting visual and spacial information about the surface where the cars are driving on. He also likes to experiment with alternative methods for driving vehicles.
Besides his work, he is programming web-applications and computer games. He is a passionate computer gamer himself and also likes to go snowboarding.
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Henrik Matzke
Since 2007 Henrik is a student at the Freie Universität Berlin and currently prepares for his bachelor thesis in computer science. Afterwards his focus will be on finishing his master studies until 2012. Since February 2010 he supports the AutoNOMOS team as a student assistant. He gained his first project experiences as an intern at Funkwerk AG and student apprentice at a multitouch project at the working group “Artificial Intelligence”.
Lately Henrik has been working on the simulator and further he will be focusing on visualization of the crossing behavior.
Apart from international football, music and movies are Henrik’s leisure time interests.
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Arturo Reuschenbach
Arturo received his bachelor’s degree in computer science in Barcelona (Spain). For the last year of his bachelor Arturo decided to write his thesis within the Erasmus exchange program working at the Freie Universität Berlin in the FUmanoids group (soccer playing humanoid robots) supervised by Prof. Raúl Rojas. He was enthused by the research group and the university and decided to continue with the master in computer science at the Freie Universität Berlin. Now Arturo writes his master thesis in the AutoNOMOS group.
The focus of Arturo’s research lies in robotics and artificial intelligence. Within his master thesis Arturo concentrates on developing an iPhone/iPad remote control for a car. More specific, his research is focused on the communication with the autonomous vehicle and the optimal representation of the data from all sensors installed in the car.
In his spare time Arturo likes to challenge his friends and co-workers in all sorts of racket sports, especially in tennis and squash. Otherwise he spends time with his girlfriend and/or friends or he travels to new places.
Simon Rotter
Simon received his bachelor’s degree in computer science at the Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften FH Ingolstadt in 2012. During his bachelor program he was studying abroad at the University of Wolverhampton (UK) for one semester. Since 2012 he has studied at the Freie Universität Berlin in the master program for computer science with the focus on artificial intelligence and robotics. During his studies he felt a main interest in robotics and related topics. Besides the lectures he gained experience through internships and his bachelor thesis. At the moment Simon is writing his master thesis in our group. Before his master program Simon was concentrating on a software architecture for autonomous systems during his bachelor thesis.
In his free time Simon does photography, he also likes hiking and book reading.
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Michael Schnürmacher
Michael studied computer science with mathematics as a minor subject at the Freie Universität Berlin. He finished in 2009 and since then works as a PhD student in the AutoNOMOS project.
His main function is to process data from 3d-sensors based on LIDAR-, radar- and infrared technology. One of the many challenges of this project is the fusion of different types of sensor data and environmental information. It is this domain where he has his main interest.
He is an impassionate tennis player but also likes finding his limits in other sports. He spends a lot of his leisure time reading books, listening to music and watching films.
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Robert Spangenberg
Robert Spangenberg studied computer science with a minor in economics from 2001 till mid 2007 at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He wrote his diploma thesis at the Transport Research Institute of the German Aerospace Center on multi-object tracking in traffic scenarios. In 2007 he started to work at an automotive supplier, developing camera-based driver assistance systems. Since 2009 he is a part-time PhD student in the AutoNOMOS group.
In his spare time he likes to do some free climbing, cycling or road racing.
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Dr. Ernesto Tapia
Ernesto obtained a bachelor’s degree from the Universidad Veracruzana in Mexico and a master in applied mathematics at the Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas (CIMAT). In 2004 he received a PhD degree in computer science from the Freie Universität Berlin. Since then he has been working there as a research assistant in the Artificial Intelligence Group.
He is currently working on self-localization and motion analysis from image data, automatic camera calibration, and generalization of image features for real-time object recognition. His scientific interests also include on-line recognition of handwritten mathematical notation, independence analysis and signal separation using neural networks, and image processing using mathematical morphology.
During his free time Ernesto likes cooking Mexican dishes and watching interesting movies.
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Fritz Ulbrich
Fritz Ulbrich began his studies in computer science at the Freie Universität Berlin in 2001. Since 2006 he is a member of the AutoNOMOS team. In 2009 he received his master’s degree and since then he is a research assistant. His main tasks are lane detection and the processing of the associated information. As test driver Fritz is frequently operating the autonomous cars ‘Spirit of Berlin’ and ‘Made in Germany’ and is often tweaking their sensor arrays.
After working hours Fritz likes to relax in a hammock with his laptop. Apart from that he enjoys to drive with his ‘Schwalbe’ moped through Berlin or to tinker with it.
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Patrick Vogel
Patrick coordinates all commercial aspects of the project. During his studies of business administration at the technical universities of Freiberg and Dresden he majored in entrepreneurship and innovation management as well as in IT for business processes and business communication.
He ensures, that the scientists of the group adjust their goals to “real-life” requirements and do not lose their market orientation. Doing so, he serves as a sparring partner for business ideas and is responsible for the controlling of the project budget.
In his free time he likes to explore new sights of Berlin, meets with friends or works on his golf game – not seldom all at the same time.
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Dr. Miao Wang
Miao studied computer science from 2004 till 2008 at Freie Universität Berlin. In 2008 he became a research assistant in the working group for autonomous driving, and since 2009 he is working in the AutoNOMOS project. He is mainly focusing on cognitive navigation and path planning.
His main task includes the processing of missions for the autonomous car into drivable trajectories. These trajectories are interpreted by a self-designed low-level controller in order to let the car drive along the projected routes. For that, control of throttle/brake and steering wheel is essentially important. Furthermore, more complex maneuvers like overtaking, crossing behavior, parking etc. can be implemented.
In his leisure time Miao does a lot of sports, especially soccer, volleyball and basketball. He is also a big movie fan.
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Shuiying Wang
Shuiying studied mechanical engineering and automation from 2003 to 2007 at the Science and Technology University of Beijing, China. Then she studied aircraft control design for a master degree in Beihang University, China. Since September 2010, she is working on her PhD as a CSC scholarship student here at Freie Universität Berlin. Now she is mainly focusing on simulator and controller design for our autonomous car.
In her leisure time Shuiying likes reading any kinds of books and doing any kinds of out-door sports.
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Fabian Wiesel
Fabian studied physics at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin before switching to computer science at the Freie Universität Berlin, where he received his diploma in 2006. From 2001 to 2006, he was member of the ‘FU Fighters’, the former humanoid robot soccer team of the FU Berlin, working on both the small-size and the middle-size team. During that time, he was responsible for programming the micro-controller of the robots, took part in writing the control-software and the redesigning of the software architecture.
Since 2006, he is research assistant and works on the autonomous car project. As the chief technical officer in the AutoNOMOS project, he is responsible for general technical overview and troubleshooting.
His interests include embedded programming, robot control software, lidar-scanner and sensor fusion.
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Till Zoppke
Till learned computer science and literature at the University of Trier and the Freie Universität Berlin. In 2005, he graduated with a diploma thesis about the ENIAC. Subsequently he worked for the automotive industry in the area of navigation- and infotainment-systems, located in Munich and Changchun (China). In 2009 he returned to the FU Berlin to work as a research assistant.
Till coordinates the work in the 3D Lab. His expertise is the integration and evaluation of the RADAR sensors. Besides that, he develops business ideas for a potential spin-off.
Additional professional interests are traffic systems and simulations, SFX projects in the movie industry and the history of computing. He also practices Korean zen.
Other former members
Neven Santrac, Frank Havlak, Frederik Zilly, Ketill Gunnarson, Mark Simon, Fabian Ruff, Lars Wolter, Arash Sarkohi, Benjamin Jankovic, Bastian Hecht, Günther Lange, Jan Knipper, Jannes Arnold, Daniel Neumann, Dr. Zahra Boroujeni, Dr. Mostafa Mohammadi, Dorothee Spitta, Daniel Seifert,
and
from Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (IAIS), Sankt Augustin, Germany: Thomas Wisspeintner, Stefan May, Kai Pervölz, Walter Nowak, Francesco Maurelli, David Dröschel