From EcoCAR to Zoox: Meet Xuanpeng Zhao

For many students, EcoCAR is more than a collegiate engineering competition—it's an opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to real-world mobility challenges. For Xuanpeng Zhao, that experience became a direct pathway into the autonomous vehicle industry.

Today, Xuanpeng works as a Software Engineer on the Perception Team at Zoox, where he develops object detection and tracking systems for autonomous vehicles.

His EcoCAR journey began with a milestone moment for the program: the arrival of the Cadillac LYRIQ competition vehicle.

“When the LYRIQ first arrived at UCR, it was perfectly intact,” Xuanpeng recalled. “I was actually one of the first people to remove the panels and connect our T-harness so we could start collecting baseline vehicle data.”

By Year 3, Xuanpeng had become the Connected and Automated Vehicle Team Lead, helping oversee the development of perception, planning, prediction, vehicle control, and V2X communication systems.

“It was a very hands-on experience,” Xuanpeng said. Everything we built had to work on a real vehicle—not just in simulation.

One of Xuanpeng's most memorable EcoCAR experiences came during Year 3 testing of the Driver Monitoring System. Just hours before final evaluations, the team encountered an unexpected issue during judging.

He told us it was our last chance, Xuanpeng recalled. If we failed again, we'd have to go back and re-queue—which probably meant losing our opportunity.

Fortunately, the team's software architecture and documentation allowed them to quickly identify the issue and adjust the logic before the final attempt.

Today, Xuanpeng sees a clear connection between the work he performed in EcoCAR and his role at Zoox.

The EcoCAR testing pipeline was almost identical to what we do in industry,” he explained. “Simulation-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, vehicle-in-the-loop—we used all of those processes in EcoCAR.

Looking back, Xuanpeng's advice to future EcoCAR students focuses on both technical development and team building.

A strong team is much more valuable than a strong individual.

For Xuanpeng, EcoCAR was more than a competition—it was an opportunity to develop the technical, leadership, and problem-solving skills that continue to shape his career today.