MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Gatik is announcing the formation of its Safety Advisory Council, bringing together a diverse group of industry experts to support the safe development and deployment of Gatik’s autonomous technology.
“Transparency breeds trust, and the establishment of Gatik’s Safety Advisory Council adds yet another layer of independent validation to our rigorous and robust approach to safety,” said Gautam Narang, Gatik’s CEO and co-founder. “The inaugural members include some of the industry’s most respected and trusted experts in transportation safety and policy, bringing more than 170 years of combined experience and expertise to help guide the implementation of Gatik’s safety strategy as we roll-out Freight-Only operations at scale.”
Safety Advisory Council
According to a company press release, Gatik’s Safety Advisory Council will exist as an independent layer of review beyond the company’s extensive existing internal and external measures and processes, reinforcing Gatik’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and independent validation of its autonomous solution. Inaugural members of the Council bring a wealth of experience from both the government and private sectors, including former leadership from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and former executives from U.S. Xpress, SAE International and Toyota Research Institute.
Council members will provide strategic guidance to Gatik’s Internal Safety Review Board on the company’s enterprise safety approach, including safety culture, processes, protocols, technology, training, and partnerships. The Council will also play an important role in educating Gatik’s key stakeholders by sharing information about the company’s approach to safety with government agencies, law enforcement, safety experts, academia, customers and the general public.
Appointees to Gatik’s Safety Advisory Council
“This esteemed group of industry leaders have dedicated their careers to advocating for safer public roadways, so we’re honored that they’ve chosen to partner with Gatik as we enter our next phase of rapid growth,” said Dr. Adam Campbell, head of safety at Gatik. “Our shared belief is that the future of road safety will be led by widespread deployment of autonomous vehicles. This means that Gatik’s Safety Advisory Council is ideally positioned to guide and inform our approach to safety as we deploy thousands of commercial autonomous trucks in the months and years ahead.”
Mark Rosekind, Ph.D.
Dr. Rosekind was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the 15th Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), serving from 2014 to 2017. Prior to NHTSA, Dr. Rosekind served as the 40th member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) from 2010 to 2014. Dr. Rosekind was also Chief Safety Innovation Officer at Zoox from 2017-2022 and previously directed the Fatigue Countermeasures Program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center, and was Chief of the Aviation Operations Branch in the Flight Management and Human Factors Division. Dr. Rosekind is an internationally recognized expert on human fatigue. Dr. Rosekind earned his A.B. with honors from Stanford University, his M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Yale University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Brown University Medical School.
Jack Van Steenburg
Van Steenburg served the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for 15 years, holding the titles of Executive Director and Chief Safety Officer. Before joining FMCSA he served in the New York State Police for 25 years and rose through the ranks of Trooper to Staff Inspector. He also served as the elected President of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and participated on their executive committee for a decade. He holds an Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice, Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration.
Jane Lappin
Lappin is the co-founder and organizer of the Automated Road Transportation Symposium, and immediate past chair of the National Academies of Engineering Transportation Research Board Vehicle-Highway Automation Committee. Lappin recently retired as Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs for Toyota Research Institute, and previously worked for the U.S. DOT Volpe Center. Lappin served as U.S. DOT secretariat to the trilateral US-EU-JPN ITS Steering Committee, and as the U.S. co-chair of the US-EU-Japan Automation in Road Transportation Working Group. Lappin studied sociology as an undergraduate at Boston University and earned an MBA from the Simmons College Graduate School of Management, the world’s only all women’s business school.
Eric Fuller
Fuller is the former CEO of U.S. Xpress, where he led the company from 2017 until its sale to Knight-Swift Transportation in 2023. Prior to becoming CEO, Eric held numerous operational leadership roles across the company, building a strong foundation in logistics, operational safety, and team management. A longtime advocate for innovation, Eric has been an early supporter of autonomous technology in commercial trucking and has served on multiple boards and in advisory roles for companies advancing autonomous and adjacent technologies.
Carla Bailo
Bailo is the past President and CEO of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), and is a leader in engineering and vehicle program management with 45 years of experience in the automotive industry. Bailo recently finished her term as President of SAE International, and was previously the assistant vice president for mobility research and business development at The Ohio State University. She also has 25 years of experience at Nissan North America, Inc., where she served as senior vice president of research and development, and spent 10 years at General Motors. She has a MS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Kettering University.
Commitment to Third-Party Reviews and Transparency
Establishing a Safety Advisory Council is part of Gatik’s ongoing commitment to independent, third-party assessment of its technology, according to the release.
Last year, Gatik unveiled the scope of its Safety Assessment Framework for Freight-Only (driverless) operations across North America, by committing to launching Freight-Only operations at scale only once it satisfies the most rigorous evaluation ever performed on an autonomous driving system by independent third parties, according to the release.
“This industry-first initiative underscores Gatik’s dedication to setting the highest standards possible for safety in autonomous trucking, and ensures that all key stakeholders, including customers, federal, state and local government partners, the first responder community and the general public have confidence in the independently verified safety of Gatik’s technology and deployment practices,” Gatik said. “The assessment encompasses over 700 identified safety portfolios and will address the following key pillars of autonomous vehicle safety: organizational safety culture, engineering quality (functional, behavioral and operational safety of the self-driving system), cyber security, vehicle safety, and safety sase conformity to UL4600 and other standards.”
As part of the company’s commitment to transparency across all aspects of its approach to safety, Gatik will be publicly sharing information on progress made towards completion of the Safety Assessment Framework prior to deployment of Freight-Only operations.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
