Karl Iagnemma

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Iagnemma at the Collision conference in 2018 Karl Iagnemma at Collision 2018 (cropped).jpg
Iagnemma at the Collision conference in 2018

Karl Iagnemma (born October 19, 1972) is an American writer and research scientist. He was the CEO of self-driving technology company Motional. He is now the CEO of Vecna Robotics. [1]

Contents

Background

Iagnemma was born in Shelby Township, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan.

He received a PhD in mechanical engineering in 2001 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Career

In 2013, Iagnemma founded NuTonomy. [2] In October 2017, he sold the company to Delphi Automotive for $400 million. [3] In September 2024 he stepped down as CEO of Motional. [4] In November 2024, he is the CEO of Vecna Robotics. [5]

Short fiction

Iagnemma has published a collection of short stories, On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction (2003), which features many stories about the more human aspects of scientists/mathematicians, where the protagonists are trapped between decisions of the heart and the rational way. His short stories have appeared in the Paris Review , Tin House , and Zoetrope , and have been anthologized in the Best American Short Stories and the Pushcart Prize collections.

He won the Paris Review Discovery Prize for his short story, On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction - which is also the title short story of his 2003 debut short story collection - and was initially published in the Paris Review and reprinted in The Pushcart Prize 2003: Best of the Small Presses. Iagnemma additionally won the Paris Review Plimpton Prize in 2002. Iagnemma also won the Playboy College Fiction Contest for his short story, A Little Advance, published in the November 1998 issue of Playboy magazine (originally entitled Nativity). The On the Nature short story collection has been optioned by Warner Brothers.

Novels and books

Iagnemma's first novel is entitled The Expeditions (2007), and concerns the story of an estranged father and his son’s voyages throughout the wilderness of 19th-century Michigan, specifically during the year 1844. [6]

Iagnemma also has published a monograph on robotics from his research at MIT entitled Mobile Robots in Rough Terrain: Estimation, Motion Planning, and Control with Application to Planetary Rovers (2004).

Bibliography

Short stories

Short story collections

Novels

Non-fiction books/monographs

Awards

References

  1. "Vecna Robotics raises $14.5M and taps former Motional CEO to lead startup" . Retrieved 2025-06-09.
  2. "Five things you should know about Karl Iagnemma - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
  3. "Delphi acquires self-driving startup NuTonomy for $450 million". The Verge. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
  4. Korosec, Kirsten (19 September 2024). "CEO of self-driving startup Motional is stepping down" . Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  5. "Vecna Robotics raises $14.5M and taps former Motional CEO to lead startup" . Retrieved 2025-06-09.
  6. The Expeditions, Karl Iagnemma, http://www.karliagnemma.com/expeditions/home.html
  7. "Paris Review - Writers, Quotes, Biography, Interviews, Artists".
  8. "Paris Review - Writers, Quotes, Biography, Interviews, Artists".
  9. "Zoetrope: All-Story". Archived from the original on 2014-11-09. Retrieved 2015-01-28.
  10. "Zoetrope: All-Story". Archived from the original on 2015-09-07. Retrieved 2015-01-28.
  11. "Fiction". 16 February 2014.
  12. "The Ore Miner's Wife | VQR Online".
  13. "One Story - Stories [ Issue #18 ]". Archived from the original on 2014-12-27. Retrieved 2015-01-28.
  14. "Antioch Review Editor Emeritus Bob Fogarty Passes Away - Antioch College". Archived from the original on 2015-12-31. Retrieved 2015-01-28.