PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Alexandre Bayen

Also known as Alex Bayen

Alexandre Bayen is a UC Berkeley professor who uses reinforcement learning to study how autonomous vehicles can improve traffic flow. After studying applied mathematics at École Polytechnique, he completed an aeronautics and astronautics PhD at Stanford in 2004 and joined Berkeley in 2005. He coauthored Flow traffic benchmarks in 2018 and the PAIRED environment-design paper in 2020, then led a 100-vehicle CIRCLES traffic experiment in 2022. He directed Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies from 2014 to 2021 and became director of CITRIS and the Banatao Institute in January 2024. France awarded him the Ordre National du Mérite in April 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1998–2004

    Mathematics and a Stanford doctorate

    He earns an engineering degree in applied mathematics at École Polytechnique in France in 1998 and an MS in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University in 1999. After working as a visiting researcher at NASA Ames Research Center, he completes his Stanford PhD in aeronautics and astronautics in 2004.

  2. 2004–2005

    Autonomous navigation and Berkeley

    In 2004, he directs the Autonomous Navigation Laboratory at the Laboratoire de Recherches Balistiques et Aerodynamiques, part of France’s defence ministry in Vernon. He joins the UC Berkeley faculty in 2005.

  3. 2008–2010

    Mobile Millennium and PECASE

    In 2008, he and Daniel Work lead Mobile Millennium, using GPS-enabled smartphones to gather real-time traffic information from 100 vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area. He receives the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2010.

  4. 2014–2021

    Directing transportation research

    He directs UC Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies from 2014 to 2021. From 2015 to 2018, he also directs the Transportation Initiative at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

  5. 2018

    Flow traffic benchmarks

    In 2018, he coauthors “Benchmarks for reinforcement learning in mixed-autonomy traffic.” The work introduces four benchmarks for deep reinforcement learning in traffic where automated vehicles interact with human drivers, and releases them through the Flow project.

  6. 2020

    PAIRED training environments

    He coauthors “Emergent Complexity and Zero-shot Transfer via Unsupervised Environment Design” in 2020 with Michael Dennis, Natasha Jaques, Eugene Vinitsky, Stuart J. Russell, Andrew Critch and Sergey Levine. The paper introduces PAIRED, a method that generates solvable training environments and produces a curriculum of increasing complexity for reinforcement learning agents.

  7. November 2022

    A 100-vehicle traffic experiment

    In November 2022, he leads a CIRCLES Consortium experiment with 100 partially automated vehicles in Nashville, Tennessee. The team uses AI with adaptive cruise control to test ways to smooth traffic jams and improve energy use.

  8. January 2024

    Director of CITRIS

    In January 2024, he becomes director of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute, known as CITRIS. The role coordinates research, entrepreneurship and outreach across UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz.

  9. April 2026

    France’s National Order of Merit

    In April 2026, he receives France’s Ordre National du Mérite. The honour recognizes his work connecting France and the United States through research, innovation and higher education at UC Berkeley.

  10. As of October 2026

    Professor at UC Berkeley

    As of October 2026, he is the Liao-Cho Professor of Engineering at UC Berkeley, with appointments in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Civil and Environmental Engineering. He also serves as associate provost for Moffett Field Program Development and as a faculty scientist in mechanical engineering at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Alex Bayen | Mobile Sensing Lab bayen.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Alexandre Bayen | EECS at UC Berkeley www2.eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Massive traffic experiment pits machine learning against ‘phantom' jams - Berkeley News news.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. White House Awards Alexandre Bayen With Early Career Award | Research UC Berkeley vcresearch.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Alexandre Bayen named CITRIS director - CITRIS and the Banatao Institute citris-uc.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Benchmarks for reinforcement learning in mixed-autonomy traffic proceedings.mlr.press. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Emergent Complexity and Zero-shot Transfer via Unsupervised Environment Design papers.neurips.cc. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Alexandre Bayen Leads Massive AI Traffic Experiment | Research UC Berkeley vcresearch.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  9. CITRIS Director Alexandre Bayen Awarded France’s Ordre National du Mérite - CITRIS and the Banatao Institute citris-uc.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  10. Alexandre Bayen | Institute of Transportation Studies its.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.