Lawrence Lao
Program Manager Program Management Office @NVIDIA
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WORK HISTORY
Program Manager Program Management Office @NVIDIA
VLA model training; autonomous driving, robotics, software / Hardware / AI model integration on ambient platform- Research lab GEAR Lab• Manage Nvidia’s robotics research fleet, driving simulation asset vendor collaboration and maintaining the health for various robots and components.• Improved efficiency of robotics data collection and model evaluation workflows; enabling faster iteration in embodied AI research, reducing cycle time by 30%.• Drove the release process of Nvidia’s first robotic VLA foundation model (Gr00t-N1), paving the way for embodied multimodal AI agents- Autonomous Driving team• Partnered with Mercedes on software-defined vehicle program; led application deployment across Compute/Sensor/Vehicle interfaces.• Defined roadmap and acceptance criteria for AI model transition from classic machine learning to VLA base model; aligned leadership, OEM customers, and engineering teams.
EDUCATION
University of Southern California
Master of Science, Manufacturing Engineering
Guangya High School
High School
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Exchange Student, Mechanical Engineering
Zhejiang University
BS, Mechanical Engineering
SKILLS
ABOUT LAWRENCE LAO
10+ years of Technical Program Manager experience in leading cross-functional R&D programs in machine learning, VLM & VLA models. Specialized in scaling hardware/software/AI integrated ambient platforms, coordinating research workflows, and launching cutting-edge products from inception to deployment. Proven ability to drive clarity, build scalable processes, and align diverse stakeholders across engineering, research, customers, and partners. Experienced in embodied AI, multimodal foundation models, and global-scale programs in both enterprise and startup environments.Skills & Focus Areas• Product / Program Management: Roadmapping, milestone & schedule tracking, risk management, full alignment between engineers, researchers, operations and customers• Robotics & AI: Research workflows, embodied AI, HW/SW integration, multimodal model development & evaluation on VLM / VLA models integration on various ambient platforms. • Cross-Functional Alignment: Researchers, hardware/software/AI teams, internal & OEM customers, suppliers, and leadership communicationSelected Achievements• Drove release of Nvidia’s first robotic VLA foundation model (Gr00t-N1), enabling multimodal embodied AI research at research lab Gear Lab at Nvidia.• Drove release of the platform transition from classic machine learning model to VLA model at Nvidia autonomous driving team• Delivered machine learning base perception system integrating LiDAR/camera fusion at Pony.ai, deployed in 100+ autonomous vehicles.
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