Dr. Francesca Favaro
Leader Safety Best Practices Team

Waymo

Dr. Francesca Favaro leads the Safety Best Practices team at Waymo (prev. Google Self-Driving). In her role she coordinates external engagement with standards developing organizations like ISO and SAE, and curates the continuous development of Waymo’s Safety Case in support of documenting and pressure-testing the processes that lead to the safe deployment of the Waymo Driver - an SAE Level 4 Automated Driving System. Prior to joining Waymo in 2020, she was an Associate Professor at San Jose State University’s Department of Aviation and Technology and a Research Associate at the Mineta Transportation Institute. Francesca earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech, and received her M.S. in Space Engineering and B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Politecnico di Milano.