An autonomous car may seem like a thing of the distant future, but mechanical engineer Chris Gerdes is racing to make it a reality today.

As Uber's co-founder and former CEO, Travis Kalanick is disrupting an entrenched industry and reinventing urban transportation.

As executive chair of the Ford Motor Company, Bill Ford leads the company that put the world on wheels.

Soft cars, jet packs and houses made of meat are all in a day's work for urban designer, architect and TED Fellow Mitchell Joachim.

Sevidzem Ernestine Leikeki has a drive to care for nature, foster women's empowerment and build future nature-lovers.

A research scientist at Intel, Jennifer Healey develops the mobile internet devices of the future.

To determine how life might persist on Mars, Nathalie Cabrol explores one of Earth’s most extreme environments: high-elevation Andean lakes and deserts.

Xiaowei R. Wang is the lead steward of Logic School. They work on community-based and public art projects, data visualization, ecology and education.

In his film "Mars et Avril," Martin Villeneuve brings his sci-fi romance graphic novel to glorious life.

Does humanity have a future as uploaded minds? In his work, Robin Hanson asks this and other extra-large questions.

Sarah Rugheimer looks for signs of life on other planets by studying the telltale chemical signatures on distant planets.

In 1994, Esta Soler was among the key advocates for a US law to combat the devastating effects of violence against women. Today, her mission is global.

Eric Topol is a leading cardiologist who has embraced the study of genomics and the latest advances in technology to treat chronic disease.

Makhtoum Abdalla is passionate about equal access to quality education for all children and young people.

An eternally curious student of life, Naomi Shimada engages deeply with people to understand what connects us all.

Kashmir Hill writes about privacy and technology.

Illustrator and humorist Bruce McCall paints our imagined future -- a supercharged, streamlined fantasyland that teeters on the edge of hysteria.

Michael Pawlyn takes cues from nature to make new, sustainable architectural environments.

The co-founder of Proximie, Nadine Hachach-Haram is a curious surgeon with a passion for technology and innovation -- and a desire to make a difference in the world.

Xavier De Kestelier is an architect and technologist with a passion for human space exploration.

By day, Dan Clay is a partner at a brand and innovation consultancy. His more well-known persona is Carrie Dragshaw.

From wedding invitations to Utopian newspapers, Kelli Anderson re-designs commonplace objects to go beyond their ordinary functions and create surprising experiences.

Haley Van Dyck is building a startup at the White House and recruiting world-class technology talent to change how government works for the American people.

Working across technologies and disciplines, James Bridle examines technology, knowledge and the end of the future.

Kathryn Bouskill's work explores how our health is shaped as much by our biology as it is by our behaviors and cultural contexts.

Bright Simons is a technology thinker, social innovator and "ideas activist."

Rishi Manchanda is an "upstreamist." A physician and public health innovator, he aims to reinvigorate primary care by teaching doctors to think about—and treat—the social and environmental conditions that often underly sickness.

TED Senior Fellow Andrew Pelling uses novel materials for next-generation medical innovations and speculative living technologies of the future.

Eric Sannerud engages with agricultural issues across disciplines and seeks to boost access to farmland for new and young farmers.

Lynn Rothschild is passionate about the origin and evolution of life on earth or elsewhere -- while at the same time pioneering the use of synthetic biology to enable space exploration.