Dr. James Jerry Lopez is the Autonomy Safety and Safety Research Leader at Motional. Jerry’s focus at Motional is developing SOTIF requirements and V&V strategies for AV software and he also leads advanced research on AI safety for autonomous vehicles. Prior to Motional Jerry was a senior researcher at GE Global Research for 13 years focusing on software and AI safety for unmanned aerial vehicles. Jerry holds a Ph.D., M.S. and B.S., all in Electrical Engineering. James has co-authored several conference publications involving approaches to AI safety for autonomous aircraft. He holds 7 patents. Jerry resides in Pittsburgh, PA.