• Home
• About
• People
• Classes/Jobs
• Affiliation
• News/Events
• Contact

WELCOME TO CARS
The Center for Automotive Research at Stanford

Program Director:    Prof. Chris Gerdes
Executive Director:     Sven Beiker, PhD

CARS is the interdisciplinary automotive affiliates program at Stanford University. The vision of CARS is to create a community of faculty and students from a range of disciplines at Stanford with leading industry researchers to radically re-envision the automobile for unprecedented levels of safety, performance, sustainability, and enjoyment. Our mission is to discover, build, and deploy the critical ideas and innovations for the next generation of cars and drivers.

CARS acts as an automotive community to encourage automotive research and education.

Download Info Material (click on thumb nail)

CARS Poster (30'' x 40'')

CARS Flyer (8.5' x 11')

Recent CARS News

Chairman of Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo, Visits CARS and GSB
The Chairman of Ferrari, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, visited Stanford University on April 24. While the main reason for his visit was an invitation to the "View from the Top" speaker series, which is now available as an online video recording, he also met with CARS Directors at the Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Lab to discuss trends in automotive research, education, and product development.
More...

People at CARS - Updated Directory of Directors and Collaborators Online Now
The CARS website was updated with a database of faculty and researchers at Stanford, who work in automotive related fields. The directory contains a list of more than 30 individuals conducting research on many different topics that apply directly or indirectly to the automobile and mobility in departments and research centers across the university. CARS is assisting its affiliates in establishing contacts with researchers upon request.
More...

Wireless Power Could Revolutionize Highway Transportation
Stanford researchers around Professor Shanhui Fan have designed a new technology that could lead to wireless charging of electric vehicles while they cruise down the highway. This research program, which the CARS affiliates have been following almost from its beginnings, is now being joined by Prof. Michael Lepech in Civil & Environmental Engineering, who will be investigating the roadside implementation of the concept. The Stanford report was covering the recent developments.
More...

A Glimpse Into The Future Of Mobility From Stanford's Car Gurus
Researchers at the Center for Automotive Research are working on all sorts of things--from autonomous cars to wireless charging. But what trends do they see affecting how we get places in the more immediate future? Co.Exist, an online version of the FastCompany Magazine, spoke with Sven Beiker to find out more about what CARS is doing, and what main trends they see the automobile taking in the near future.
More...

CARS Annual Report 2011 Available for Download
The CARS Annual Report for the year 2011presents a summary of events and activities that Stanford's automotive industry affiliates program supported over the year. It highlights classes, workshops, community events, and research programs that CARS helped to initiate on Stanford campus. In addition it gives an outlook for some of the topics that the program plans to pursue in the next year, such as connected mobility and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
More...

Automotive Research at Stanford University - 15min Video Summary of Topics and Trends
Sven Beiker, Executive Director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford - CARS, gave a presentation to incoming graduate students with interest in energy related topics. The 15 min presentation, that is now available as a video recording, explains the different fields of car related research in the different disciplines at Stanford and also gives a good general overview of mobility related topics at the university.
More...

CBS Smart Planet Coverage on Automotive Research at Stanford
The team from CBS Smart Planet visited the Stanford researchers at the Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Lab and produced a video that features the different projects in Stanford's automotive lab. The online documentary features the work from the Dynamic Design Lab, Autonomous Driving Group, and Solar Car Project. Some general directions of automotive research in Silicon Valley are discussed as well.
More...