Edwin Olson, May Mobility CEO: A Fortt Knox Conversation
July 31, 2025 / Jon Fortt Podcast
With proprietary autonomous vehicle technology uniquely positioned to scale, we’re partnering with cities, transit agencies, organizations and businesses to build a safer, greener, more accessible world.
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In five years, we’ve given more than 350,000 autonomy-enabled rides in a diverse set of communities by deploying our customizable autonomous vehicles in collaboration with cities, state transit agencies and private enterprises. Key strategic partners, including our longstanding relationship with Toyota Motor Corporation, have provided access to auto-grade vehicles, superior service for our customers and resources for global scale.
Our highly scalable core technology provides additional reliability, safety and learnings unlike any other autonomous vehicle company.
Our safety features include a suite of redundant systems (ranging from redundant power to sensor communication), a robust fallback safety system, active monitoring and vehicle guidance (tele-assist) and more.
Our unique approach to technology is one piece of a holistic turn-key model that includes vehicles, operations, community engagement and regular software updates and maintenance.
Our autonomous drive-by-wire control system and autonomy stack can be applied to a wide variety of platforms—not just one auto-grade platform—to solve unique mobility challenges.
In addition to unlocking more potential in a variety of transit systems, our routes and vehicles collect data to benefit future planning for cleaner, safer, more accessible communities down the road.

Watch Mars, one of our demo vehicles, make an unprotected right turn, navigate a congested intersection, and pass a stopped vehicle using a remote tele-operator.
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Edwin Olson is CEO and founder of May Mobility, Inc. He has focused on the development of autonomous vehicles for more than two decades, co-leading autonomous vehicle development at Toyota Research Institute and helping to develop Ford Motor Company’s autonomous vehicles. He has a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT and is a professor of computer science at the University of Michigan. Olson got his start in autonomous technology participating in the DARPA Urban Challenge in 2007 as part of the MIT team. He was named one of Crain’s Detroit Business’ Notable Leaders in Energy in 2023.
Chief Strategy Officer & General Counsel
Sid Venkatesan is the chief strategy officer and general counsel at May Mobility, Inc. With nearly two decades of legal and business experience, he leads the development of the company’s corporate strategy, safety and compliance processes, and the protection of its intellectual property and data. Prior to joining May Mobility in July 2023, Sid served as chief legal officer at Embark and held executive roles at Komline-Sanderson and GE Digital. Earlier in his career, he was a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, where he maintained a broad IP litigation, transactional, and counseling practice. He holds a Juris Doctor from NYU School of Law, an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.
Chief People & Customer Operations Officer
As chief people and customer operations officer, Tom is focused on both the people who power May Mobility and the fleets that deliver safe, reliable rides. He believes operational excellence begins with engaged employees and that a motivated workforce translates directly into strong execution in the field. By cultivating a workplace where employees can thrive, Tom ensures our teams bring their best to maximizing fleet performance with Lyft, Uber, and the cities we serve. His leadership is centered on building truly scalable AV technology and operations that unlock accessibility and equity in transit. Tom’s forward-thinking approach earned him a place on Business Insider’s list of power players in the self-driving car industry. Prior to May, he co-led the people function at Cruise, helping scale the team from 100 to over 3,000 employees in just three years.
Chief Commercial Officer
Manik Dhar is chief commercial officer of May Mobility, Inc. He is responsible for developing and implementing May’s growth strategy. No stranger to the tech sector, Dhar has more than 25 years of experience helping startups and industry giants alike expand and achieve scale. Prior to joining the company in February 2022, he served as chief revenue officer at data-annotation firm CloudFactory. He has also led student-transportation disruptor Zūm to 10x growth in two years, and held executive positions at Google and Oracle. Dhar majored in computer science at Bangalore University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering.
Chief Financial Officer
Thomas Fennimore is the chief financial officer of May Mobility, Inc., and oversees all financial functions and investor relations. He brings more than 25 years of experience in strategic finance within the auto and tech industries, including serving as Global Head of Automotive at both Goldman Sachs and Jeffries Group. Tom has extensive experience managing high-profile transactions, including IPOs, financing and mergers and acquisitions. He most recently served as CFO at Luminar Technologies, where he helped take the company public and secured partnerships with major automakers. Tom holds bachelor’s degrees in engineering and mathematics from Swarthmore College.
Senior Vice President of Autonomy
Jacob Crossman is senior vice president of autonomy at May Mobility, Inc. He was appointed to the position in August of 2021 and is responsible for the company’s autonomy engineering and robotics engineering functions and leads his teams in the development and deployment of May Mobility’s autonomous vehicles. Crossman joined May Mobility with more than 20 years of professional experience in research and development of autonomous sense/react technologies at Soar Technology, Inc. and Deepgram, where he served in various senior roles. He has a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science in computer science from the University of Michigan.
Vice President of Marketing and Communications
Frank Renwick is the vice president of marketing and communications at May Mobility, bringing over 20 years of expertise in marketing across automotive, cleantech, energy, and consumer goods. Before joining May, he led marketing for Bowery, the largest vertical farming company in the U.S. Previously, at Droga5—an Accenture company and AdAge and AdWeek’s Ad Agency of the Decade—Frank directed award-winning and business-building initiatives for major brands like Chase, lululemon, Rivian Automotive, Kraft, Coors Light, Mattress Firm, and CBRE. Earlier in his career, he transformed NRG’s brand into a leader in renewable energy as vice president of marketing, while driving acquisition and retention for its subsidiary, Reliant
Vice President of Autonomy Engineering Verification & Validation
Matthew has more than 18 years of experience advancing automotive safety and autonomy, with leadership roles at Cruise, Motional, Uber ATG, and Cariad—the Volkswagen Group’s software-defined vehicle hub. At Cariad, he built and led the global safety engineering team, creating a multi-brand framework across VW and Audi and guiding certification of zonal architectures to meet ASIL standards. Earlier, he led autonomy performance and validation at Cruise and contributed to the ISO 26262 and 21448 (SOTIF) standards. He is also a co-author of Safety First for Automated Driving, a key industry reference on AV safety.
Director of Mobility Business, NTT
Masaharu Nagamiya is a board director for May Mobility, Inc. As Director of the Mobility Business at NTT, Masaharu Nagamiya leads autonomous driving business development in Japan for NTT. Collaborating with May Mobility and other important partners, including Toyota Motor Group, Masahura Nagamiya leads efforts toward developing new autonomous driving business opportunities across Japan. He has 30 years of experience in prior roles at NTT Data including enhancing customer contact points using smart cards, RFID, and mobile devices. Additionally, as the sales leader for the largest mobile operator in Japan, he was responsible for global business development. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Waseda University.
Partner at Keyframe
Benjamin Birnbaum is a board member for May Mobility, Inc. Birnbaum is a founder and partner of Keyframe Capital, a cross-asset investment fund that focuses on enabling change in physical infrastructure categories, like transportation, energy, and the built environment, as well as a founder of Terawatt Infrastructure, a developer, owner, and operator of electric vehicle charging assets. Prior to this, Ben was the Vice President of Strategy for MV Transportation; operating in over 200 cities, MV is of the world’s largest transit operators. Birnbaum holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University.
Partner at Millennium New Horizons
Ray Cheng is a board member for May Mobility, Inc. Ray is a Partner at Millennium New Horizons, an investment firm that has backed many significant technology companies from Facebook and Twitter to Alibaba and Zappos. Prior to joining Millennium, Ray spent three years with Rho Ventures where he was a Senior Analyst in their New York office. Ray also serves as a founding advisor to Komodo Health, and was previously an advisor to HackHands, which was acquired by Plursalsight in July 2015. Ray graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Systems Engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Board Member
Ryan Green is a board member for May Mobility, Inc. He first joined the company in May of 2021 as its Chief Financial Officer and was responsible for leading May’s financial operations, including the finance, accounting and corporate governance functions. Prior to joining May, Green was the CFO at Rivian, the American electric vehicle maker and automotive technology company. Prior to Rivian, he served as the CFO for Harley Davidson Financial Services, and held various financial leadership positions at Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Bayer AG and Ford/Visteon. Green holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Michigan State University, and an MBA from Wayne State University.
SPARX Asset Management
After 15 years of experience as an institutional investor in public equities, Ichitaro Akita has been engaged in startup investment strategy since 2016. During his time as an institutional investor, he covered the technology sector (semiconductors, consumer electronics, electronic components, telecommunications, business software, etc.) and the automotive industry in Japan and Asia.
Board Member
Julia Haywood is a board member for May Mobility, Inc. Haywood has over 20 years of experience leading operations and multi-year transformations at large corporations and multiple start-ups. She previously worked as EVP and Chief Commercial Officer for United Airlines, where she successfully helped set the airline’s new commercial direction; was Partner at Boston Consulting Company (BCG) for 12 years leading airline start ups and retail transformations; as well as VP of Strategy, International Expansion & Airport Operations for Lyft, owning the ride-hail company’s market strategy and expansion efforts. Haywood is now the Chair of the Board for Flair Airlines, is an Investment Committee Advisor and consultant to UP.Labs, and serves on the advisory boards for the nonprofit organization Start Early and baby gear company Loop.
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Edwin Olson is CEO and founder of May Mobility, Inc. He has focused on the development of autonomous vehicles for more than two decades, co-leading autonomous vehicle development at Toyota Research Institute and helping to develop Ford Motor Company’s autonomous vehicles. He has a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT and is a professor of computer science at the University of Michigan. Olson got his start in autonomous technology participating in the DARPA Urban Challenge in 2007 as part of the MIT team. He was named one of Crain’s Detroit Business’ Notable Leaders in Energy in 2023.