`init`

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hi, I’m Matt.

I’m a Data Scientist and Physicist writing about projects, tools, professional development, industry practices, and the industry at large.

What to expect

I’m a Data Scientist who occasionally dabbles in some light software engineering. I started off as a physicist working with computational/statistical tools for nuclear physics and have been working in tech for a few years now. What that means is that I’ve made that academia-to-industry transition and learned many lessons along the way. Some of this writing will be what my past self wished I knew.

About

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I am a Data Scientist at Zoox working on Perception Verification and Validation for autonomous driving.

Experience

Data Scientist, Perception V&V — Zoox (2026–Present)

Driving statistical approaches to perception verification and validation for autonomous driving

AI Verification Engineer — Zoox (2022–2026)

Designed and executed statistical approaches to provably safe autonomous driving
Built tools, automated processes, and data products using Python, Databricks, and PySpark to support autonomous driving evaluation
Designed data-collection strategies, fleet simulations, and test asset orchestration that enabled scaling and release of the Zoox service to the public
Drove continuous improvements resulting in over 99% uptime
Contributed to 9 patent applications (2 granted)

Graduate Research Assistant — McGill University (2016–2022)

Matthew Heffernan

`init`

What to expect

About

Experience