Biography:Tyler Folsom
Tyler Folsom | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 10, 1948 Seattle Washington, U.S. |
| Occupation | Engineer, academic, and researcher |
| Employer | Sperry Univac (1973–1976) |
| Parents |
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Tyler Cleveland Folsom III (born November 10, 1948) is an American engineer, academic, and researcher known for his work on autonomous vehicles,[1] micromobility, and sustainable urban transportation systems.[2] He is an affiliate professor in Computing and Software Systems and Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington Bothell, where he leads projects integrating automation and lightweight electric vehicles.[3]
Early life and education
Folsom was born in Seattle Washington, to Tyler Cleveland Folsom Jr. and Phyllis Emily Greer Folsom.[4] He earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Villanova University in 1970 and a Master of Arts in mathematics from the University of Maryland in 1972.[5] Folsom later pursued engineering, completing both a Master of Science (1980) and a Doctor of Philosophy (1994) in Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington.[4]
Academic and professional career
Folsom started working at Sperry Univac from 1973 to 1976, where he worked on real-time operations control systems for two unmanned NASA spacecraft programs, the Orbiting Solar Observatory and Atmosphere Explorer, at the Goddard Space Flight Center.[6]
Folsom transitioned into full-time academia in 2000, joining DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington. He taught there until 2006 and achieved the rank of full professor.[7]
In 2004, he served as a visiting professor at Northwest University in Xi’an, China.
In 2013, he joined the University of Washington Bothell as an affiliate professor in the School of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM).[8]
At UW Bothell, Folsom directs student teams in the development of autonomous electric tricycles, vehicles that combine aspects of micromobility and automation.[9] His project began in his garage and grew into a multi-year research and development effort supported by an Amazon Catalyst Grant of $75,000 in 2016.[10]
Research
Folsom's work centers on the convergence of micromobility, vehicle automation, and personal rapid transit, with the goal of creating environmentally sustainable transportation options.[11] Through the Elcano Project and its associated repositories on GitHub, he promotes open-source collaboration on autonomous vehicle design.[12]
His research emphasizes ultra-low energy consumption, seeking to achieve the equivalent of 1,000 to 2,000 miles per gallon of gasoline through lightweight design and low-speed operation.[11]
He has presented his ideas at international conferences including IEEE SusTech (2024),[13] Mobility Innovation Week Japan (Nagoya, 2024),[14] and EAI Future Transport 2025.
Folsom co-founded Cogneta Inc., a company dedicated to commercializing automated vehicle technology, and established Micro-AV Social Purpose Corporation, focused on developing small autonomous transport solutions for urban areas.[15]
Folsom is the author of Goddess at the Helm: Technology Taking Us Where Activists Wanted (2017), a book examining the social and ethical implications of technological progress.[16]
Selected publications
- Folsom, T.C.; Pinter, R.B. (1998). "Primitive features by steering, quadrature, and scale". IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence 20 (11): 1161–1173. doi:10.1109/34.730552. ISSN 0162-8828. Bibcode: 1998ITPAM..20.1161F. https://doi.org/10.1109/34.730552.
- Folsom, Tyler C.; Bondurant, Phillip D. (1999-10-06). "Non-Contact Internal Thread Inspection". SAE Technical Paper. SAE Technical Paper Series 1. doi:10.4271/1999-01-3434. https://saemobilus.sae.org/papers/non-contact-internal-thread-inspection-1999-01-3434.
- Folsom, Tyler (2012). "Energy and Autonomous Urban Land Vehicles". IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 31 (2): 28–38. doi:10.1109/MTS.2012.2196339. ISSN 0278-0097. Bibcode: 2012ITSMg..31b..28F.
- Folsom, Tyler C.; Cotter, Rob (2017). "Automation of ultra-light vehicles". 2017 IEEE Conference on Technologies for Sustainability (SusTech). IEEE. pp. 1–6. doi:10.1109/SusTech.2017.8333514. ISBN 978-1-5386-0452-6.
- Socha, David; Folsom, Tyler C; Justice, Joe (2013), SAE-China; FISITA, eds., "Applying Agile Software Principles and Practices for Fast Automotive Development" (in en), Proceedings of the FISITA 2012 World Automotive Congress (Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg) 196: pp. 1033–1045, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-33738-3_8, ISBN 978-3-642-33737-6, https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-642-33738-3_8, retrieved 2025-12-11
- Folsom, Tyler C. (2011). "An Invitation to a New Transportation Mode". Proceedings(743) 16th IASTED International Conf. Robotics and Applications (ACTAPRESS). doi:10.2316/P.2011.743-022. ISBN 978-0-88986-874-8. http://www.actapress.com/PaperInfo.aspx?paperId=451944.
- Folsom, Tyler C. (2011). "Social ramifications of autonomous urban land vehicles". 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS). pp. 1–6. doi:10.1109/ISTAS.2011.7160596. ISBN 978-1-4244-9149-0.
- Folsom, Tyler C. (2007). "Non-pixel Robot Stereo". 2007 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Image and Signal Processing. pp. 7–12. doi:10.1109/CIISP.2007.369285. ISBN 978-1-4244-0707-1.
- Folsom, T.C.; Pinter, R.B. (1994). "An interpretation of image processing in striate cortex". Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics. 1. pp. 280–285 vol.1. doi:10.1109/ICSMC.1994.399851. ISBN 0-7803-2129-4.
- Folsom, T.C.; Pinter, R.B. (1992). "Computational efficiency of the Gabor transform". [1992] Proceedings of the IEEE-SP International Symposium on Time-Frequency and Time-Scale Analysis. pp. 399–402. doi:10.1109/TFTSA.1992.274133. ISBN 0-7803-0805-0.
References
- ↑ Brustein, Joshua. "Self-Driving Cars Will Mean More Traffic" (in en). Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-21/self-driving-cars-will-mean-more-traffic.
- ↑ Perkins, E. (2021-09-17). "Improved Bus Service on Ten Times less Energy" with Tyler C. Folsom, Affiliate Professor, University of Washington, Bothell" (in en-US). https://ieee-sustech.org/2021/sustech-talk-nov-21-improved-bus-service-on-ten-times-less-energy/.
- ↑ Stiffler, Lisa (2018-11-28). "Forget autonomous cars. How about an electric, self-driving tricycle for a cheaper, safer alternative?" (in en-US). https://www.geekwire.com/2018/forget-autonomous-cars-electric-self-driving-tricycle-cheaper-safer-alternative/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Empowerment Workshop for Female Junior Faculty @ Hokkaido University, October 25-29, 2010 Tyler Folsom". https://www.dei.hokudai.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/WS2010-Profile-Sample-Tyler-Folsom1.pdf.
- ↑ "Folsom is a Professor in the School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Washington.". https://learn.planning.org/page/view.php?id=1120&lang=en_us.
- ↑ "Listings by Tyler Folsom – CONNECTED HUSKIES Folsom has been with UW Bothell since 2013" (in en-US). 2023-03-10. https://depts.washington.edu/uwbur/contributor/tfolsom/.
- ↑ Miller, Madison (2018-08-15). "UW Bothell students work toward creating autonomous bicycles" (in en-US). https://www.bothell-reporter.com/news/uw-bothell-students-work-toward-creating-autonomous-bicycles/.
- ↑ Esser, Douglas (2018-09-06). "UW Bothell advances self-driving trike" (in en-US). https://www.uwb.edu/news/2018/09/06/autonomous-trike.
- ↑ Esser, Douglas (2017-10-13). "Research opportunities for undergraduates" (in en-US). https://www.uwb.edu/news/2017/10/13/undergraduate-research-2.
- ↑ "Amazon selects self-driving bike for $75K grant" (in en-US). 2016-05-11. https://www.uwb.edu/news/2016/05/11/elcano.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Folsom, Tyler C. (2022), Improved Bus Service on Ten Times Less Energy, Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, 426, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 162–176, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-97603-3_12, ISBN 978-3-030-97602-6, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97603-3_12, retrieved 2025-12-11
- ↑ Matthews, Todd (2018-07-16). "Pedal-less Power" (in en). https://www.425business.com/tech/pedal-less-power/article_47d78c5e-20ae-5330-9f86-cd34d1ad157c.html.
- ↑ "Keynote 5: Tyler Folsom, University of Washington Bothell | IEEETV" (in en). 2024-09-26. https://ieeetv.ieee.org/SusTech/keynote-5-tyler-folsom-university-of-washington-bothell,%20https://ieeetv.ieee.org/SusTech/keynote-5-tyler-folsom-university-of-washington-bothell.
- ↑ Suda, Yoshihiro. "Plenary Session 1 | Mobility Innovation Week Japan 2024" (in en-US). https://mobilityinnovationalliance.org/mobiweekjapan2024/en/session1.
- ↑ "Joint Symposium on Systems, Robotics and Aerospace" (in en-US). https://attend.ieee.org/neweraai25/program/symposia/systems-robotics-aerospace-joint-symposia/.
- ↑ Folsom, Tyler (February 4, 2017). The Goddess at the Helm: Where technology is taking us, and how activists can change the course. Cogneta Press. https://www.amazon.com/Goddess-Helm-technology-taking-activists-ebook/dp/B01N9ZI9I2?ref_=ast_author_mpb.
External links
- Folsom's published work at IEEE
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