Harika Surabhi

I started my career in 2011 with a bachelor's in electronics and engineering in India, where I worked for one year in an IT company. During that time, I became more interested in computer science subjects and how everything could be built up in this field. I was always fond of electric cars because they're like one big computer, and I wanted to understand how everything is integrated. I decided to pursue my master's in computer science, taking majors in mobile development when mobile-first was the focus, before AI started booming. I joined Lucid Motors six years ago when it was a startup so I could work end-to-end on real-time projects. I work on customer-facing Android automotive applications, developing features like automated garage door opening that uses location tracking, drowsiness monitoring that shows nearby coffee locations when the system detects the driver is drowsy, and over-the-air updates for the car. One of my proudest accomplishments was working on a project without a system engineering team, having to work directly with vendors and understand complete electronic module documentation even though it wasn't completely my subject area. I had to do my own research to understand from the computer level basics through networking to the application layer, delivering the complete feature end-to-end. I also built a refactored architecture so one codebase works for all different car variants, avoiding duplicate work. What I find most rewarding is working at the architecture level, discussing with vendors to understand how things internally work, and then working with my team to build products end-to-end without issues.