A PhD holder, Umar has been involved in the future mobility (connected and autonomous vehicle) field since 2014, working with various teams in different countries and continents. Previously, he led a team of 12 engineers (of 10 different nationalities) working in the Autonomous Vehicle Software Product Development with Sensible 4, Finland. Umar was one of the recipients of the Finnish Engineering Award 2020 for his contributions to the development of all-weather autonomous driving solutions with said firm. With more than 30 scientific publications as author and editor under his belt, Umar actively participates in global automotive standardization efforts, where he is a Secretary for the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Committee. Since the end of Summer 2021, Umar has been working as the Senior Lead Product Strategist for CEVT AB in Sweden.