Today’s entrepreneur is Raphael Gindrat, co-founder and CEO of Bestmile, a fleet management platform that turns autonomous vehicles into a managed fleet.
Bestmile’s Mobility Services Platform enables the intelligent operation and optimization of autonomous mobility services, managing fixed-route and on-demand services regardless of the vehicle brand or type. Bestmile’s on-demand autonomous mobility service platform is being used daily by electric autonomous fleet vehicles in pedestrian areas and open roads as well as in human-driven ridehailing and multi-transit systems.
In 2014, Gindrat helped oversee a project with Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne to test and operate some of the first autonomous vehicle projects in Europe. After that project, organizers of autonomous mobility projects from throughout the world asked came his team to help them to define and manage more autonomous mobility trials. He and cofounder Anne Mellano developed the Bestmile Fleet Orchestration Platform to accelerate projects by enabling autonomous and human-driven vehicles of any brand or type to work together as intelligent fleets.
Gindrat is active in global organizations including the World Economic Forum’s Tech Pioneers, and advocates for an open technology ecosystem to enable to new mobility services to deliver on the promise of safe, affordable, efficient travel for all.
I am a(n):
Entrepreneur
Companies I’ve founded or co-founded:
Achievements (products built, personal awards won):
- World’s first Fleet Orchestration Platform, World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer
- Developer of World’s First Vehicle Agnostic Fleet Orchestration Platform
- Global Cleantech 100 Company of the Year, Europe, 2019
- Fleet Europe Start-Up of the Year 2018, Third Place
- Top 100 Swiss Start-Ups 2018, Second Place
- Selected for Microsoft ScaleUp Accelerator Program
If you are an entrepreneur, why?
Serendipitously fell into it…
My favorite startups:
Beep, Alto, Mobility on Demand
Why did you start your current company?
I was in graduate school and on a team that was tasked to oversee one of the first autonomous vehicle demonstrations in Europe. The vehicles could manage a prescribed route but when they came face-to-face in a narrow part of the route they stopped completely. They could not communicate with one another or work together as a fleet. My cofounder and I saw a problem that would need to be solved and built the first Fleet Orchestration Platform for new mobility services.
What’s most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?
The pace of change and the pace of change. It is exciting to win fast. It is also easy to fall behind if you are moving fast enough in the right direction.
What’s the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make?
Not hiring people that are better than them at their functions.
What are the top three lessons you’ve learned as an entrepreneur?
Hire people that are better than me at their functions. Listen to them. Empower them.
