Raphael Gindrat

Raphael Gindrat

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.

Website: https://medium.com/@bestmile
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rgindrat/
Others: www.bestmile.com
Lausanne, Switzerland
Member since September 10, 2019
Quote
AVs are not just about the cars. It’s about the services they can deliver when working together as intelligent fleets. This is what Bestmile enables. Quote_down
  • About
Education
2011 EPFL , BS , Civil Engineering
2014 EPFL , MS , Civil Engineering
Skills
Management, Business Strategy, Project Management
I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:
Bestmile
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're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

Serendipitously fell into it...

My favorite startups:

Beep, Alto, Mobility on Demand

Why did you start your company or why do you want to innovate inside your 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/innovators 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.

Full bio

Raphael Gindrat is a cofounder and CEO of Bestmile and is a pioneer in the world of autonomous mobility. In 2014, he 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. Raphael 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.