PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Steven Waslander

Also known as S. L. Waslander, S.L. Waslander, Steve Waslander, Steven L Waslander, Steven L. Waslander

Steven Waslander is a robotics researcher whose AI work advances perception and autonomy for drones and self-driving vehicles. He earned degrees at Queen’s University and Stanford, created the STARMAC quadrotor testbed, and founded Waterloo’s WAVELab before joining UTIAS in 2018 to start TRAILab. His work includes Autonomoose, the Canadian Adverse Driving Conditions winter dataset, and Sliding Window Tracker, which uses temporal information to reduce missed objects in occluded views. He is a professor at UTIAS, director of TRAILab and, since July 2026, director of the University of Toronto Robotics Institute.

Works
231
Citations
12,082
h-index
45

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1998–2007

    Stanford and STARMAC

    He earns a BScE in applied mathematics from Queen’s University in 1998 and works for three years in turbofan controls at Pratt & Whitney Canada. At Stanford, he earns an MS in 2002 and a PhD in aeronautics and astronautics in 2007; as a graduate student, he creates STARMAC, a multi-vehicle quadrotor testbed.

  2. 2008

    Founding Waterloo’s WAVELab

    In 2008, he joins the University of Waterloo and founds and directs the Waterloo Autonomous Vehicle Laboratory (WAVELab). His work there covers localization and mapping, object detection and tracking, integrated planning and control, and multi-robot coordination.

  3. 2012

    Mind to Market award

    In 2012, he and Aeryon Labs receive the Ontario Centres of Excellence Mind to Market award for the best industry-academic collaboration.

  4. 2017

    The Autonomoose project

    In 2017, he co-leads Waterloo’s three-year Autonomoose project to test a modified Lincoln MKZ on a Canadian public road. The team trains software to recognize and track vehicles and pedestrians and plans to use reinforcement learning to support the car’s behavioural decisions.

  5. 2018

    Joining UTIAS and TRAILab

    In May 2018, he joins the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) from Waterloo. In 2018, he founds the Toronto Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (TRAILab).

  6. 2020

    The CADC winter dataset

    In 2020, he coauthors the Canadian Adverse Driving Conditions Dataset paper. It presents winter-driving data collected by Autonomoose in the Waterloo region, with 7,000 annotated frames from eight cameras, lidar and a GNSS/INS system.

  7. 2024

    Sliding Window Tracker

    In 2024, he coauthors Sliding Window Tracker (SWTrack) with Sandro Papais and Robert Ren. The graph-based method uses additional temporal information to improve tracking and prevent missed objects when they are occluded.

  8. Since July 2026

    Director of the Robotics Institute

    As of October 2026, he is a professor at UTIAS and director of TRAILab, where his current research uses deep learning to improve open-world perception for autonomous robotics. In July 2026, he begins a five-year term as director of the University of Toronto Robotics Institute.

Career

  1. Since 2026University of TorontoDirector
  2. NowUniversity of TorontoProfessor
  3. NowUniversity of TorontoDirector, Toronto Robotics and AI Laboratory (TRAILab)
  4. From 2018University of Toronto
  5. From 2018University of TorontoFounder of Toronto Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (TRAILab)
  6. From 2008University of Waterloo
  7. From 2008University of WaterlooFounder and Director of Waterloo Autonomous Vehicle Laboratory (WAVELab)
  8. Pratt & Whitney CanadaTurbofan controls

Education

  1. 2007Stanford UniversityPhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics
  2. 2002Stanford UniversityMS in Aeronautics and Astronautics
  3. 1998Queen's UniversityBScE in Applied Mathematics

From the biography.

Checked career sources: news.engineering.utoronto.ca, trailab.utias.utoronto.ca.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Steven Waslander yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Robotics by land and air: A Q&A with Steven Waslander news.engineering.utoronto.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Prof. Steven Waslander | TRAIL trailab.utias.utoronto.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. CARRE People - University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies utias.utoronto.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Gearing up Autonomoose for a Canadian first | Waterloo News uwaterloo.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Canadian Adverse Driving Conditions Dataset arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. U of T Engineering researchers are making self-driving cars safer by enhancing tracking abilities news.engineering.utoronto.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Meet Professor Steve Waslander, the new director of the University of Toronto Robotics Institute robotics.utoronto.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.