The Design Enthusiast: Francisco Rovira

Meet our Curious and Ingenious Electromechanical Design Engineer

At the foundation of our mission and technology is the wonderful people who make up the Pony.ai team. We are builders, thinkers, and innovators, united by our shared passions for a safe, sustainable, and autonomous mobility future.

Our Senior Electromechanical Design Engineer Francisco Rovira enjoys taking things apart and (occasionally) putting them back together to find out how they work, including our test vehicles. Read on to learn about Francisco’s first ride in an autonomous vehicle, his passion for design, and how he’s integrating our vehicles with the Pony.ai autonomous driving system.

What does your role as a Senior Design Engineer entail, and what keeps you motivated?

My role involves mechanical, wire harness and electrical design. I design and maintain electrical connection systems for our vehicles around the globe. Together with my team, we structure our electrical interfaces of our Autonomous Vehicle system . We also encourage our component designers to utilize automotive-grade tested connection systems where possible, so we can improve the reliability of our electrical integration.

Additionally, I’m the primary vehicle interface hardware engineer. I work on the interface design of the test vehicles, allowing our main computer to communicate with the lateral and longitudinal systems of the base vehicles. I leverage the work between electrical engineers and software engineers to take control of the vehicle’s primary functions, such as steering, braking, acceleration, lights, and so on.

Every day, I’m motivated by the opportunity to explore new ideas and the continuity of new projects and challenges. I’m also working on things that few have done before — that’s what keeps me pumped!

An example of the hardware-in-the-loop vehicle interface that Francisco’s team has designed. The test-bench setup allows his team to emulate the base vehicle to test our interface software.

What drew you to Pony.ai originally? Why autonomous vehicles?

I’m always looking to bring more spice and inspiration to my work life. After working in the auto industry for six years designing several vehicle platforms, I became hungry for new challenges. The auto industry has a recipe for how to build a car so there is limited room for innovation in my opinion. Joining a self-driving car startup was aspirational for me as the industry is at the forefront of technology development.

I joined Pony.ai when it was only two years young. I’m drawn to the company because it gives me the opportunity to make a significant impact on hardware design. Now every day brings a new challenge, which allows me to leverage some of the great teachings from the auto industry and apply them to the exciting projects we work on at Pony.ai.

Tell us about your first ride in an autonomous vehicle.

Francisco and his first prototype interface harness, which he designed and built in less than a week.

My first experience riding in a self-driving car was during my first week at Pony.ai. I was a little surprised to see a safety driver behind the wheel, but I was fascinated by all the little boxes displayed on the vehicle’s onboard system that identify objects like pedestrians, vehicles, motorcycles, cones, and obstacles, etc. I was impressed that the system would see 360-degrees around the vehicle. It picked up on things you normally wouldn’t notice and events that were happening behind you and way in front of you. The system’s viewing capability was so much better than what my eyes are capable of.

Now that I’m part of the vehicle interface team, I get to be the first to drive most of our new platforms to test our integration and make sure that the vehicle can command correctly from the main computer down to the wheels. Looking back, it’s been quite a journey going from never been in a self-driving car to becoming the first to test our latest platforms.

If you could pick one theme for Pony.ai to turn into a book about the company, what would it be?

The future is now, self-driving cars are here! Before the pandemic, I used to take our self-driving car to the office almost every day. I would hail a ride through our internal employee robotaxi service, and I never had to worry about driving or traffic because my commute was always enjoyable. I would simply browse my phone or answer emails on the way — from the comfortable back seat of my robotaxi. For many of us at Pony.ai, robotaxis have become a regular part of our lives.

What would you do for a career if you weren’t an engineer?

An architect, although I am pretty sure I would find my way into civil engineering. I’ve always liked design, not just for the artistic part of it but also to understand how things work. That’s why I’m into civil engineering because of the nitty-gritty details and calculations. I really enjoy seeing a project going from nice design to fruition. I also like construction and have solid 3D drawing skills, which is essential in the vehicle design process. My 3D drawing skills also come in handy off work. When I remodeled my kitchen (below), I started with a 3D design on my computer before buying all the materials and completing all the installations myself.

A civil engineer at heart, Francisco applied his 3D drawing and construction skills to transform the epicurean center of his home.

Tell us three things most people don’t know about you.

1. While it is no secret that I like to travel, I don’t think everyone knows how much I enjoy experiencing and learning about new cultures. Growing up, I lived in different countries and cities and spent my college years exploring Asia, while my family lived in the Philippines.

2. My friends and family think I am hyperactive. In reality, I just love to take things apart and learn how they work. Tools have always been my favorite toy! But please don’t ask my grandma what happened to the vacuum cleaner.

3. I love working on cars. Part of my job is about learning how our latest test platforms work and control the different actuators, so I am always eager to take on a new project in which I can take a vehicle apart to learn and design how to integrate it with our system.

From left to right: Francisco travels from the coast of California (with this dog Mocha) to the capitals of Japan and Norway.

What is your favorite part about working at Pony.ai?

Innovation is part of Pony.ai’s DNA. No idea is too hard or too crazy to try out here. Everyone is encouraged to truly think outside the box and work across teams to turn concepts into reality. Our teams are always eager to work on new challenges and the collaborative environment at Pony.ai fuels that enthusiasm.

We are always looking for talented individuals to join Pony.ai. If you’re interested in making a positive impact on the future of mobility, you can learn more here.