In this week’s episode of the UKTN Podcast, Oxa CEO Gavin Jackson explains why the UK is well-positioned to be a leader in autonomous vehicles, breaks down Oxa’s strategy for commercialisation, and unpacks who is liable in the event of an autonomous vehicle crashing.
Oxa, formerly known as Oxbotica, is developing software for autonomous vehicles. Its products include Oxa Driver, a full stack of components for autonomous driving and Oxa MetaDriver, a suite of generative AI and digital twin tools that simulate the testing of driverless cars. It has raised more than £150m in funding, including from tech giant Google.
Founded in 2014, it is focusing on passenger transportation and industrial autonomy. In this week’s episode, Jackson explains why Oxa is focusing its commercial efforts on these two areas instead of robo-taxis.
The Oxford-headquartered company recently announced a commercial partnership with a passenger shuttle service in Florida, US. Oxa has been sharing industry input into the UK’s Automated Vehicles Bill, which is currently progressing through parliament.
The Oxa boss believes that the UK is in a good position to be a global leader in autonomous vehicles due to its regulatory approach and complex road systems providing rich training data.
“I think that actually the UK and Europe can play a leadership role here in regulating the market and making sure that we’re applying the right types of standards and the right rigour to safety in the way that automotive companies do today,” said Jackson.
Jackson, who previously held senior leadership positions at Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, was appointed CEO of Oxa in December 2021.
Listen to the full episode here, along with all previous episodes of the UKTN Podcast.
The UKTN Podcast is sponsored by HSBC Innovation Banking, which offers flexible banking solutions for startups, scaleups, growth businesses, investors and those working towards IPO.
Throughout the series, the UKTN Podcast will be speaking to some of the key movers and shakers from UK tech. We’ll learn growth strategies from both seasoned and up-and-coming founders, hear market sentiments from investors, and question policymakers on the decisions impacting the country’s innovation economy.
Sign up for our podcast newsletter to ensure you don’t miss an episode.
The post Podcast: How the UK is gearing up for autonomous vehicle leadership – Oxa’s Gavin Jackson appeared first on UKTN.
