Since 2008 Klaus Kompass is VP Vehicle Safety for all products of BMW Group. He is responsible for the development of active safety, passive safety, accident research as well as the safety aspects of automated driving for all vehicles of the brands BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce.

After school and his military service at the German Airforce he studied Safety Engineering at the University of Wuppertal and graduated as Dipl.-Ing. in 1985. After 18 months working in a research project with the German coal industry together with his wife he moved to Munich and started his automotive career as crash test engineer in the BMW vehicle safety department. During the next years held several functions in BMWs R&D department to become director vehicle safety advanced engineering in 1995. In 1999 he left BMW to start a new responsibility as head of engineering for Autoliv GmbH being in charge of three R&D centers in Germany and the UK. In 2003 he went back to BMW AG to manage several roles in the electric/electronic development and ultimately for ADAS advanced drivers assistance systems. In 2008 he was nominated VP vehicle safety.

Klaus Kompass is Professor for vehicle safety and driver assistance at the Technical University of Berlin and the University of Applied Sciences Konstanz. He received several international awards like the “US Government Award for Safety Engineering Excellence” from the US DoT, the “Fraunhofer Airbag Award” from Fraunhofer ICT, the “Pathfinder Award” of the Automotive Safety Council and the “Josef-Ströbl-Preis” of the Bavarian Ministry for Internal Affairs. Together with his wife Heike he has three adult kids at the age of 19, 24 and 30. He is a passionate sportsmen, carries a black belt in Taekwondo and whenever there is time he rides motorcycle or bicycle, likes to kayak or go rock climbing with his kids.