# Chihiro Suga > Research Engineer Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/chihiro I am a software engineer with 7+ years of professional experience in the automotive research field. My experience covers the development and evaluation of the HMI systems, as well as the development of 3D simulation platforms for human factor studies and autonomous driving research. ## Work Experience ### Software Engineer @ RRAI Jan 2023 – Present UX design and front-end development for remote operation system - I am responsible for the design and development of UI/UX for operation of autonomous vehicles. - Development tools used: Qt , C++ and QML ### Research Engineer @ Volvo Cars Jan 2019 – Jan 2022 | Sunnyvale Design and development of a simulation platform for autonomous driving research - Responsible for the design and development of simulation software for autonomous driving research. Research scopes include training and verification of algorithms, as well as generating synthetic data for training purposes. - Closely worked with machine learning researchers, understood their research objectives and provided the simulation solutions. - Development tools used: Unity (ML-Agents library) UX research on autonomous driving vehicle - Responsible for communication with the industry partner, conducting the on-road user study, and performing preliminary data analysis. - The study measured the drivers' emotional experience in autonomous vehicles through physiological devices and a self-reported survey. The study revealed a gap between the objectively measured user experiences and the subjective ones. - Part of the result was published at AutoUI 2020 conference. - Development tools used: Matlab ### Research Engineer @ Honda Research Institute USA, Inc. Jan 2015 – Jan 2019 | Mountain View Designing and developing the HMI for fully or semi-autonomous driving systems, utilizing an AR heads-up display. - Responsible for the design and development of prototype ADAS applications using AR-HUD, operation of user study, and data analysis followed by the user study. Use cases include navigation and obstacle warning systems. - Closely worked with university partners, and conducted user study on a simulator and on-road using the research vehicle. The study revealed the insights on the UX on AR-HUD, as well as the gap Three research papers were published as the results of this project (ISMAR 2018/2019, IV 2019) - Development tools used: Unity, Unreal Engine (Airsim), Python and Matlab ### Research Internship @ Honda Research Institute USA, Inc. Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 | Mountain View Developed an in-car interface that notifies incoming obstacles to the driver by showing a graphical icons on a monitor placed in a driver’s peripheral vision. Graphical icons with a several conspicuity levels were designed and evaluated to assess driver's preference. Result shows the preferred conspicuity level depends on the driver's ability to locate the potential hazards in the scene. This work was presented at AutomotiveUI '16 conference (poster). ### Research Internship @ Microsoft Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 | Beijing City, China This internship was at Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) in Beijing. I continued working on my undergraduate project ("Anamorphicos" project). During this internship, I focused on developing the anamorphose (deformed image projected in a mirror) simulation by making use of ray tracing technology, to extend the work on various mirror shapes. This project was supported by Microsoft 2011 Collaborative Research (CORE) Funding Program. Throughout the internship, I was supervised by Dr. Xiang Cao ### Visiting Research Scholar @ Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 | San Francisco Bay Area We developed the prototype platform of persuasive technology that detects people's positive behavior and endorsing them by giving feedback. I developed a pragmatically-controlled gumball machine that can be incorporated with web add-ons. This project was presented at Maker Fair 2013 and received "Editor's Choice" award. This three-months exchange program was sponsored by scholarship from Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO). During the program, I was supervised by Dr. Ted Selker. ### Research Assistant @ Sony Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 | Tokyo, Japan I was a part-time research assistant at Sony Computer Science Laboratories (known as SonyCSL). My main responsibility was to design and develop the web-based platform for the interactive system for controlling connected home appliances. The project was called "萌家電 Kadecot", and led by Dr. Shigeru Owada. ### Visiting Research Scholar @ Centria University of Applied Sciences Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 | Ylivieska Area, Finland I was fortunate to continue working on my undergraduate project ("Anamorphicons" project) during this program.. Worked with the local researchers to improve the mirror device, and the vendor to extend the application on a 46” table-top display. This three-months exchange program was sponsored by scholarship from Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO). During the program, I was supervised by Dr. Mika Luimula. ### Internship @ CREAM: International Festival for Arts and Media Yokohama 2009 Jan 2009 – Jan 2009 | Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan Internship at the organizer of an international art festival held in Japan in 2009. My primary task was to serve as an assistant for the international art group Graffiti Research Lab (known as GRL). In the course of my internship, I helped GRL to set up their exhibitions, run installations and arranged PR events. ## Education ### Master of Science (M.S.) in Electrical and Computer Engineering Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley ### Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Computer Science Ochanomizu University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/chihirosuga --- Source: https://flows.cv/chihiro JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/chihiro/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-11