Steering the Future of Autonomous Trucking

Tara Andringa is the Executive Director of Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE), a nonprofit coalition focused on engaging with the public about automated vehicles and their potential to improve the safety, mobility and sustainability of our transportation system. Andringa has led the group since its public launch in January 2019.

Andringa has more than 25 years of experience in communications, policy and coalition management. Prior to joining PAVE, Andringa spent two decades as a communications director in the United States Senate, managing public relations for a U.S. Senate office and several Senate committees, including the Senate Auto Caucus.

Andringa received her B.A. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania.

As the Vice President of Operations at Plus, Amisha Vadalia helped build and now oversees industry-leading operations, safety processes, trainings, and pilot programs that pave the way for the safe commercial rollout of Plus’s advanced driver assist system and autonomous driving solutions. The operations team under Vadalia’s leadership coordinates testing and data collection, manages the supply chain, and supports national customer deployments of Plus’s first commercial product, PlusDrive. She previously worked in the renewable energy sector, leading operations at a solar monitoring and data analytics company.

Vadalia graduated from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Management.

Sasko Cuklev started at Volvo Group in 1994, where he has held several positions and has been a manager the past 14 years. Lately, he has been heavily involved in the implementation of the autonomous solutions. He is currently Head of the On-Road-Solutions, responsible for all autonomous solutions within the trucking segment. He is based in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Lori Heino-Royer is the Head of Business Development at Waabi. Heino-Royer started her career as a Certified Public Accountant providing her with a great foundation for understanding how decisions impact the bottom line. She spent nearly 20 years at Daimler Truck North America in numerous roles. She has developed deep industry knowledge through her leadership experience in autonomy, strategy, connectivity technology, finance, sales and program management.  

Heino-Royer earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Cincinnati and an M.B.A. from Portland State University. In addition, she has held professional credentials as a Certified Public Accountant, a Project Management Professional and a Certified Foresight Practitioner.. Heino-Royer has received Awards from Portland Business Journal’s Women of Influence and the Manufacturing Institutes STEP Ahead Award for Women in manufacturing. Heino-Royer has served on several boards including: Portland State University, Construct Foundation and Blockchain in Transport Alliance. 

Olivia Hu is Head of Autonomous Trucking at Uber Freight, a market-leading enterprise technology company powering intelligent logistics. She manages OEM, AV, and EV partnerships on the Business Development team at Uber Freight. She is passionate about the role of technology in defining the future of supply chains and transportation. Prior to joining Uber Freight, Hu led business development at a self-driving car startup, and, as a native New Yorker, she can't wait until it's normal to never need a driver's license again!