Eloi Pereira
I design and build intelligent systems that sense, learn, and act in the physical world — from architecture to production.
Now leading Data Science and AI/ML at Element Fleet Management — one of the world's largest fleet operators, with over 1.5 million vehicles — building systems that let those vehicles pay for fuel and tolls without a card.
I care about correctness, not just functionality.
Career and Education
Data Science & AI/ML
At Car IQ I led the data science team building the Identity Platform — the system that decides whether a vehicle is who it says it is, so it can transact for fuel, parking, and tolls without a card. In production: AI/ML pipelines for fraud prevention, fraud detection, dynamic underwriting, and anomaly detection, processing vehicle telemetry at scale. The core problem is to make the vehicle trustworthy to transact without a credit card.
Car IQ was acquired by Element Fleet Management — one of the world's largest fleet operators, managing over 1.5 million vehicles — where I now lead the same mission at a different order of scale.
Autonomous Systems & Robotics
Co-founded Responsible Robotics (now part of Mobius Logic) to build cloud infrastructure for operating robot fleets at scale — a microservices architecture letting a single operator supervise teams of drones, with edge components for Mavlink-based autopilots.
For the Portuguese Air Force, commanded long-range wildfire detection missions with a fixed-wing 40 kg drone in joint operations with the National Guard and Civil Protection Authority. Recognized with the Aeronautical Meritorious Medal by the Air Force Chief of Staff.
Research & Engineering
Core contribution: BigActors, a programming model for distributed systems where the network topology itself changes — deployed in a 2013 multi-system mission coordinating a UAV, GPS ocean drifters, and a Navy vessel from a single platform.
Earlier: led the PoAF Metrology Laboratory — 18 technicians, ~3,000 calibrations per year across ~7,000 aeronautical sensing devices, certified to ISO/IEC 17025. Google Scholar →
Career
- 2026 – present
- Head of Data Science & Lead AI/ML Engineer, Element Fleet Management
- 2022 – 2026
- Head of Data Science & Lead AI/ML Engineer, Car IQ
- 2020 – 2022
- Mission Commander, PoAF Unmanned Air Systems Operations
- 2021 – 2022
- Invited Professor, ISEC Coimbra
- 2018 – 2022
- Co-founder & Robotics Engineer, Responsible Robotics (now part of Mobius Logic)
- 2016 – 2022
- Technical Manager, PoAF Metrology Laboratory
- 2006 – 2016
- Lecturer & Researcher, Portuguese Air Force Academy
Education
- 2015
-
PhD in Systems Engineering — UC Berkeley
Dissertation: "Mobile Reactive Systems over Bigraphical Machines" - 2009
- MSc in Automation, Instrumentation & Control — Porto University
- 2005
- Diploma in Electrical & Computer Engineering — Air Force Academy / Lisbon University
Recognition
- 2022
- Aeronautical Meritorious Medal — PoAF Chief of Staff (4-star General)
- 2021
- Military Commendation — Air Operations Commander (3-star General)
- 2018
- Silver Medal for Exemplary Behavior — PoAF Personnel Commander
- 2009–2015
- Pinto-Fialon Fellowship — Pinto-Fialon Foundation
- 2006
- Best Senior Electrical Engineering Student — AFCEA