BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Venti Technologies (风图智能), the leader in safe-speed Autonomous Vehicle (AV) logistics systems, today announced that two senior executives, Bin Jin（金宾）, former Founder and CEO of Anji Logistics Tech, and Scott Pendleton, Ph.D., former Senior Research Scientist and Planning Team Lead of nuTonomy (now Motional) have joined the company to expand its commercial operations. Mr. Jin has been appointed Vice President of Business Development and General Manager, Greater China; Dr. Pendleton has been named Senior Director, Autonomy and is based in Singapore.
Mr. Jin and Dr. Pendleton are pioneers in the business and technology of self-driving vehicle systems, having created ground-breaking technology and pilot deployments for AVs being tested today in multiple countries. They have led teams developing self-driving technology for fleets and enhancing public awareness about AVs.
“2022 is already an exciting year for Venti, as we are well on our way to achieving our annual goals, including tripling our size, launching an operational fleet deployment, building out a commercial organization and sales pipeline, and achieving key financial milestones,” said Heidi Wyle, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, Venti Technologies. “We are thrilled to attract top talents like Bin and Scott. Their success in developing and deploying self-driving vehicles and deep experience in AV technology will help us quickly grow our autonomous logistics business.”
Mr. Jin is responsible for Venti’s business operations in Asia and has P&L responsibility for Venti China. He brings 20 years of experience in the automotive industry, specializing in logistics and process engineering, with SAIC Anji Logistics, the largest automotive logistics provider in the world. He founded SAIC’s subsidiary Anji Logistics Tech in 2017 to create AI-based logistics in automotive manufacturing yards, and served as CEO through its growth to 200 employees and $50 million in annual revenues.
An expert in logistics engineering, smart solutions and operations excellence, Mr. Jin has overseen dozens of large intelligent-logistics automation projects. He has a deep understanding of system solutions, from identifying business pain points to building elegant, cost-effective, safe and reliable offerings. In 2015, he led the launch of the first autonomous tug trailer for material handling in a Volkswagen automotive manufacturing plant, and in 2018, his team deployed an automated last mile package distribution solution for a large warehouse customer. In 2019, Anji Logistics Tech successfully implemented 25 5G autonomous trucks over a 37 kilometer route within a port, thus pioneering container transport on public roads.
These achievements enabled SAIC Anji Logistics to be recognized as the top automotive business showcase in China in 2020. He has received 10 industrial awards and authored more than 20 patents.
Mr. Jin received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University. He is completing an EMBA at Peking University.
Mr. Jin commented, “It’s clear to me that Venti’s business model is demonstrating success in the marketplace with top-tier customers. I am excited about joining Venti’s team to scale our business. Venti’s proprietary AV technology is a differentiated platform and proven to be dependably deployable today – rare in the AV arena. Moreover, I see its autonomous logistics business as an enormous opportunity to decrease operating costs and overcome current supply chain problems and help targeted ports operate more efficiently.”
Dr. Pendleton is responsible for continuing to innovate Venti’s proprietary autonomy software. He is a global leader in applied AV research and deployment. An early trailblazer in the self-driving vehicle industry, his contributions include advancing the technology to real deployments. At the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) at National University of Singapore (NUS), he helped launch Singapore’s first public trial of autonomous passenger vehicles within the Jurong Lake Gardens in 2014, and the first Singapore-developed self-driving car approved for public roads in 2015. He led multiple teams to achieve Motional’s robotaxi “driverless license” in Nevada, a driverless safety endorsement from TÜV SÜD, and the launch of public deployments in Las Vegas, NV and Santa Monica, CA with Lyft and Uber Eats respectively (providing more than 100K customer rides).
Dr. Pendleton’s work on autonomous driving enabled multiple global deployments with paid passengers. He built algorithms for self-driving on-road, enabling vehicles to interact with pedestrians and road traffic and led the hardening of the technology to achieve public rides in MIT and Singapore. He co-authored Singapore Technical Reference 68, an important new standard that defines the expected behavior of level 4/5 autonomous road vehicles. His academic papers have achieved more than 1,000 citations, and he holds more than 20 patents.
Dr. Pendleton received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University. He completed his Ph.D. at NUS as a Singapore-MIT Alliance Fellow.
“Bin and Scott have successfully built and deployed technology for two of the top autonomy businesses in the world, and led large teams of leading engineers,” said Dr. Xinxin Du, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Venti. “They will help us to scale our operations in AV logistics with logistics hubs and yards customers.”
Dr. Pendleton remarked, “Venti has attracted the very best autonomy talent worldwide, and I am excited to work with this extraordinary team to deploy fleets of autonomous logistics vehicles in major facilities such as ports, airports, factories, and warehouses. Venti’s technology is safe, reliable, and applicable now. I look forward to utilizing our proprietary technology to improve human lives, and continue our leadership in self-driving science and technology.”
Venti was founded by Dr. Wyle, along with Daniela Rus, Ph.D., Director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, and a MacArthur Fellow; Saman Amarasinghe, Ph.D., a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, and Xinxin Du, Ph.D., CSO, Venti Technologies. The Company is the world leader in autonomous logistics systems and has benchmarked best-in-the-world performance in perception.
About Venti Technologies
Based in the U.S. and Asia, Venti Technologies is a safe-speed autonomous mobility company developing the future of transportation for moving goods and people. Using rigorous mathematical modeling, deep learning, and theoretically-grounded algorithms, Venti has developed a proprietary collection of autonomy technologies, including a suite of special purpose logistics algorithms. Venti’s proven value proposition of saving costs, increasing vehicle utilization, improving safety, and providing COVID-friendly transportation, is recognized by customers and driving growth. Launched in 2018, Venti brings together an unsurpassed team. The company currently has autonomous systems deployed in Asia for industrial and logistics applications as well as a growing pipeline in the global logistics marketplace. For more information please visit www.ventitechnologies.com.
