Dr. Zhifa Chen works in autonomous driving, concentrating on trajectory prediction, motion planning, and vehicle control. He has led projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, and the Aksu Prefecture Science and Technology Program (Xinjiang), and contributed as a core researcher to multiple National Key R&D Programs, NSFC grants, and provincial/municipal R&D initiatives. He has published 10+ SCI/EI papers, with 5 as first or corresponding author in venues such as IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Accident Analysis & Prevention, and Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, and holds 16 Chinese invention patents (filed or granted). He serves as a recurring reviewer for journals and conferences including IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Knowledge-Based Systems, and the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC). As team lead, he took first place in both the Comprehensive and Intersection Special tracks of the 2023 OnSite Autonomous Driving Algorithm Challenge. During his tenure as R&D Director at TAGE Idriver Technology and Lvtian Technology, he drove deployment of unmanned systems for open-pit mining and smart agriculture—over 500 autonomous mining trucks running his solutions now operate across 15 large open-pit mines owned by 10+ SOEs, including CHN Energy and China Coal Group.