Thomas Zipfel is a seasoned engineer and leader guiding cross-functional teams through collaboration to ensure state of the art safety compliance in complex robotics projects.

The Pop in Your Job – What drives you? Why do you love your job?
My daily motivators are working on cutting edge technology and solving humanitarian challenges of our modern society.

Functional Safety Expert who shapes the future of safe mobility. I started with Z80 assembly and basic analog electronics and afterward worked as an embedded software developer in multiple industries. My passion for different applications led me to work in automated systems and control, I love control.
After learning what is under the hood, I flew back to the big picture to work in automotive applications and how to make these systems play safely. Therefore, safety blew my mind to identify the weakness in the system architecture by ISO 26262 & ISO/PAS 21448 "SOTIF" and convert it into a safe product, hence changing the future of safe mobility.

As Head of Software Verification & Validation at IVECO Group, I lead cross-functional global teams that deliver robust, scalable, and future-ready validation strategies for next-generation mobility solutions. My mission is to bridge technology, leadership, and strategy to drive software excellence across electric, connected, and autonomous vehicle platforms.

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to move around. With the Waymo Driver, we can improve the world’s mobility while saving thousands of lives.

CARIAD is the automotive software company within the Volkswagen Group that bundles and further expands the Group's software competencies. Established in 2020 under the name Car.Software Organization, CARIAD now has more than 6,500 experts worldwide working on a scalable technology stack for all Volkswagen Group brands, comprising a software platform, a unified electronic architecture and a reliable connection to the automotive cloud. The company is also developing digital functions for the vehicle, including driver assistance systems, a standardized infotainment platform, software functions for linking powertrains, chassis and charging technology, as well as the new digital ecosystem and digital services in and around the vehicle. CARIADs software products can already be found in the Volkswagen ID. family – including for example the beloved ID. Buzz or upcoming models like the ID. 7. The software platform E3 1.2, which launches in 2024, will empower the next generation of Audi and Porsche cars. CARIAD has software competence centers in Wolfsburg, Ingolstadt, the Stuttgart region, Berlin and Munich, and has subsidiaries in China and the USA. #WeAreCARIAD.

veco Group N.V. (MI: IVG) is the home of unique people and brands that power your business and mission to advance a more sustainable society. The seven brands are each a major force in its specific business: IVECO, a pioneering commercial vehicles brand that designs, manufactures, and markets heavy, medium, and light-duty trucks; FPT Industrial, a global leader in a vast array of advanced powertrain technologies in the agriculture, construction, marine, power generation, and commercial vehicles sectors; IVECO BUS and HEULIEZ, mass-transit and premium bus and coach brands; IDV, for highly specialised defence and civil protection equipment; ASTRA, a leader in large-scale heavy-duty quarry and construction vehicles; and IVECO CAPITAL, the financing arm which supports them all. At 31st December 2023, Iveco Group employed more than 36,000 people around the world and had 20 industrial sites and 31 R&D centres.