He doesn’t have to go into space to reach for the stars. Although Jacek would have liked that. As a child, he used to dream of becoming an astronaut. Along the way, he also made an in-depth study of astronomy and explored the night sky with his telescope. “I have always been interested in physics and technology. Once I had come to terms with the fact that I would never be an astronaut, I decided to be an engineer,” recalls Jacek.
Today, 32-year-old Jacek is Head of Embedded Systems & Computer Vision/AI located at the EDAG facilities in Lindau and Ulm, where a total of 40 software engineers are working primarily on software for self-driving cars. “This is all extremely complex, as these vehicles have to learn to perceive their environment, interpret it and then make appropriate decisions in any given situation. In this respect, AI – artificial intelligence – opens up new horizons for us,” says Jacek.
Just a few years ago, it would have been hard for him to imagine tackling such challenging tasks with so much enthusiasm today. “When I started my degree in electrical engineering at the University of Darmstadt, the path ahead of me seemed to be fraught with obstacles and challenges. I had completely underestimated the course, and needed quite some time to grasp how things work and what I needed to do to organise myself.” Only then was he able to begin to make progress and throw himself into his subjects – electronics, energy and renewable energy – with spirit and passion. “What I really enjoyed were the different projects focussing on the technological solutions for the future and – more than anything else – the teamwork,” says Jacek. For him, this was the perfect way to prepare for his tasks at EDAG.
He didn’t have the slightest notion that he would leave university and go straight into one of the hottest E/E and AI think tanks. “I was as far away from that as I was from being an astronaut. Starting somewhere as a software developer seemed much more likely,” Jacek recalls. His application with one company was already looking quite promising, and then the phone calls started. A number from Ulm. “I remember exactly. It was Tuesday the 9th September, 2014. I rejected four calls. But my curiosity was aroused, and I called back in the evening,” explains Jacek. Alexander was on the other end, and he enthusiastically described that he was setting up the E/E Embedded Systems department for EDAG, and looking for staff.
“Two days later, on the Thursday, I was in Lindau for an interview. On Friday the 12th, I had my contract and on Saturday, 13th September, 2014 I arrived in Lindau with my suitcase. My future had begun – in the fast lane at top speed,” reports Jacek.
“It was incredibly exciting – and still is,” he says. “Four years ago, when we started setting up the team, there were just three of us in Lindau, where we threw ourselves into our work. Today there are eight of us, and like any other startup, we continue to grow with our tasks.” For Jacek, who has been a project leader since 2016, good team play is extremely important. “People have to know how the others tick and get on well together. We have this down to a T in Lindau. We work together very closely and have absolute confidence in each other. It’s a bit like a big family. Having a team around me that sticks together and joins forces to tackle challenging projects with enthusiasm, perseverance and cheerfulness is something that never fails to make me really happy. All I can say is thank you.”
Jacek had already more than proved his ability to lead a team in a project, fire their enthusiasm and make winners of them in a completely different context. Before starting his career, he worked as a table tennis coach in his spare time for 15 years, training up to 30 children and youngsters aged between five and 18 three times a week. “That tends to make you more easy-going when dealing with different temperaments. And experience in stressful and competitive situations is also quite useful in a professional setting,” he adds with a wink. Also to his advantage is the fact that, as an enthusiastic amateur photographer, he has learnt to closely observe and understand people and nature before taking pictures of them and getting into a creative process.
Since 2017, Jacek has also been responsible for setting up the innovative Artificial Intelligence department. “I firmly believe that AI will be of key importance in the future, and we should make sure that we do not miss the boat. In discussions, I constantly get the feeling that people have extremely high expectations of AI, not only in the automotive sector, but also in the industrial and medical sectors,” says Jacek. The integration of artificial intelligence in a variety of different technology concepts is an excellent match for EDAG. “This is engineering beyond existing mental horizons, something that EDAG has been good at for the last 50 years.”
But no matter how much people are talking about artificial intelligence, it is also meeting with profound scepticism – as is so often the case with revolutionary innovations. What are the advantages of AI, and above all, how much work will it involve, and how much will it cost? We always have to do a great deal of groundwork and put a lot of effort into convincing others, sometimes even becoming ambassadors in our own company,” says Jacek, and then, without pausing, goes on: “I think it is fantastic, the way we always find an open ear in the company – then it is ‘only’ up to us convince the others with knowledge and ideas. You have to be able to see the stars before you can set about reaching for them.” There really is still something of the astronaut in Jacek, the visionary with a tendency to get on with things.
