PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Vladlen Koltun

Also known as ולדלן קולטן

Vladlen Koltun is a computer scientist whose work runs from geometric algorithms to deep reinforcement learning for robots and driving simulators. After a doctorate at Tel Aviv University, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley and an assistant professor at Stanford from 2005 to 2013. He joined Adobe in 2014 and served as Intel's chief scientist for intelligent systems until 2021. He co-authored CARLA, an open urban driving simulator, and in 2021 he and David Hafner published a PLOS ONE study concluding that the h-index is no longer an effective correlate of scientific reputation. As of October 2026, he directs an international research organization at Apple, which he joined as a distinguished scientist in August 2021.

Timeline

  1. 2000–2002

    Degrees at Tel Aviv University

    He graduates magna cum laude from Tel Aviv University in 2000 and earns his PhD there with honors in 2002.

  2. 2002–2005

    Postdoctoral work at Berkeley

    He works as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2002 to 2005, under Christos Papadimitriou.

  3. 2005–2013

    Assistant professor at Stanford

    He serves as an assistant professor at Stanford from 2005 to 2013, lecturing in computer graphics and geometric algorithms.

  4. 2014

    Joining Adobe for 3D reconstruction

    He joins Adobe in 2014 to research visual computing, with a primary focus on three-dimensional reconstruction.

  5. By 2021

    Simulators and robots at Intel

    At Intel, he works on deep reinforcement learning in virtual environments for robots and drones. He co-authors CARLA, an open urban driving simulator, and serves as Intel's chief scientist for intelligent systems until 2021.

  6. 2021

    A study of the h-index

    In 2021 he and David Hafner publish a PLOS ONE study showing that the h-index is no longer an effective correlate of scientific reputation.

  7. 2023

    A SIGGRAPH Test-of-Time Award

    In 2023 his site reports that the paper Optimizing Locomotion Controllers Using Biologically-Based Actuators and Objectives receives the ACM SIGGRAPH Test-of-Time Award.

  8. As of October 2026

    Directing research at Apple

    He joins Apple as a distinguished scientist in August 2021 and co-authors the Depth Pro paper. He now directs an international research organization there.

Sources and credits

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  1. Vladlen Koltun - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. [1711.03938] CARLA: An Open Urban Driving Simulator arxiv.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. 09-12 A Quiet Revolution in Robotics | CS cs.princeton.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. News - Vladlen Koltun vladlen.info. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. [2102.03234] The h-index is no longer an effective correlate of scientific reputation arxiv.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Depth Pro: Sharp Monocular Metric Depth in Less Than a Second - Apple Machine Learning Research machinelearning.apple.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. Home - Vladlen Koltun vladlen.info. Checked 14 October 2026.