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):
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.
Long-term success requires founders to prioritize perseverance, dedication, and consistency
Read more...
Steven Loeb
A startup's success is heavily influenced by its team and culture
Read more...
Mitos Suson
I want to change the world
Read more...
Mitos Suson
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
The benefits of autonomous mobility don’t lie solely in autonomous vehicles, but in what they can offer when they’re operated and managed collectively in an integrated ecosystem. Bestmile enables vehicles of any brand or type to work together as fleets, with everything needed to launch standalone services or to integrate seamlessly with a transit agency’s existing operating system.
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. Its success is due to the fact that mobility providers can deliver these services with little or no modification to existing operations.
Bestmile works with the world’s leading trade and research organizations and associations to advance the mobility services industry.
Joined Vator on
Raphael Gindrat is a Cofounder and CEO of Bestmile and is a pioneer in the world of autonomous mobility since overseeing the first AV demos in Europe in 2014. He is active in global organizations including the World Economic Forum’s Tech Pioneers.