History shows that the automotive industry has been predominantly male-centric – from Mr Ford to Elon Musk.

Like with the traditional auto-industry, it’s rare to find females in high-level positions within the autonomous vehicle tech sector, but this is shifting, with the headlights on women.

From the design-floor to executive suites, women are beginning to play a much bigger role in the autonomous vehicle field, and it’s about time!

The leading ladies in the self-driving vehicle industry

Let’s all agree there’s nothing like a women’s touch, and more so in an industry mainly dominated by men.

In a time when most companies (across all industries) are working to diversify, there are three women who are in the fast lane -- all CEO’s of driverless car tech companies, two of which are women of color. These trailblazers are:

  • Raquel Urtasun, Waabi founder and CEO - bridging the gender equality gap by recruiting her own team of female superstars. This A-team includes Inmar Givoni, senior engineering manager, and head of design Natasha Tan.
  • Aicha Evans, Zoox CEO – Senegalese-born ex Intel executive is now developing a custom-designed robotic taxi. Evans is the first African American female CEO of an autonomous vehicle company.
  • Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo co-CEO - recognized by Automotive News in 2020 as one of the 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry and amongst the “Top 20 in 2020 Influential Women in Mobility” by Vulog.

How have women accelerated in the autonomous vehicle industry?

  • A quarter of top management in autonomous vehicle tech companies are held by women, surpassing the expected 8.2% increase of women CEO’s in Fortune 500 companies for 2021.
  • There are currently 12 leading autonomous technology companies in North America headed by women.
  • Autonomous tech company Motional was created by Laura Major who resides as their chief technology officer.
  • Carol Reiley is an AI expert who co-founded startup Drive.ai which was sold to Apple in 2019.
  • General Motors Mary Barra was instrumental in the company’s procurement of self-driving startup Cruise Automotive – which went on to raise $10 billion from Honda and SoftBank.

The future of driverless cars is in the hands of women

If we hope to reach full self-driving capabilities women need every opportunity to step up and pursue leading roles as CEO’s and founders within the industry. Here, we look towards industry leaders like Evans, Mawakana and Urtasun for guidance and inspiration.

Together with their honed emotional and business intelligence, the future of mobility is female!

Take a look at the full article here.