Helmond, North Brabant, Netherlands
I received the M.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering from Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands, in 1988 and the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering on the control of vehicle platoons from Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in 2014. From 1989 to 1999, I was with Hoogovens, IJmuiden, The Netherlands (now Tata Steel), focusing on the development and implementation of dynamic process control systems for large-scale industrial plants. Next to research projects, I was involved in commercial projects, among others for Tata Steel; This included on-site engineering at the Tata Steel plant in Jamshedpur, India. From 1999 to March 2018, I worked for TNO, Helmond, The Netherlands, ultimately as Principal Scientist. I focused on control system design for cooperative and automated vehicles, and obtained a PhD in the field of cooperative adaptive cruise control and platooning. In addition to the design of automation systems, testing them was part of my focus area as well, in the scope of which I was heavily involved in setting up TNO's VeHIL laboratory and worked three months at the Centre of Excellence for Testing and Research of Autonomous Vehicles (CETRAN) in Singapore. I was with 2getthere, Utrecht, The Netherlands, from April 2018 until March 2022 as Lead Cooperative Driving and later also Lead Perception. In parallel, I was a part-time Associate Professor with the Mechanical Engineering Department, Eindhoven University of Technology during this period. From April 2022 until December 2025, I was a Fellow Scientist with Siemens Digital Industries, The Netherlands, where I focused on verification and validation of connected and autonomous vehicles by employing digital twins. I am in particular involved in scenario-based safety-assessment in the scope of SOTIF (safety of the intended functionality), experiencing that a good automation system design is only obtained when including thorough validation. Currently. I'm back at 2getthere again, since Januari 2026, now in the role of Lead Control Architect, being responsible for integrating short-distance vehicle following in the 2getthere transportation system to further increase transport efficiency. Research is a very interesting activity, with something new to explore all the time. And this is were industrial project management comes in, ensuring that research results find their way in commercial products in a timely manner. This is why I always combine research & development activities with project management.
Control of cooperative and automated vehicles
- Focusing on development and assessment of automatic control systems, with application to road vehicles and road transport systems; - Contributing to TNO-wide strategy development and roadmapping; - Part-time research position at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Dynamics and Control group, Faculty of Mechnical Engineering; - Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions of Intelligent Transportation Systems.
The Cooperative Vehicle Systems (CVS) group focusses on cooperative and automated driving, which involves influencing the individual vehicle behavior, either through advisory or automated actions, in order to optimize the collective behavior. The CVS group aims to realize novel real-time safety critical cooperative and automated systems, covering fundamental theory, model-based development, simulation, real-time implementation, and experimental evaluation in proof-of-concept demonstrators. The scientific and technological focus is on situation awareness based on fusion of wireless and multi-sensor information, real-time embedded software to support mixed-criticality applications, (networked) control of interconnected systems of vehicles, and on fault tolerance and fail safety. I am responsible for the knowledge development and strategy of CVS, in particular regarding control system design, coaching of employees, management support and strategic personnel planning. I take part in bid teams for strategic acquisition.