Team
Koji Shiono
Co-Founder, CEO
Koji is a passionate mobility designer, engineer, and robotics entrepreneur, with extensive hands-on experiences and a holistic understanding of mobility ecosystems. Koji started his career as an automotive software engineer in Michigan, U.S.A., and subsequently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work at the cutting edge of autonomous vehicles, until he returned to Japan to start Kidou Systems.
Koji received a B.S.E. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan.
Prof. Bogdan Epureanu
Co-Founder, CTO
Bogdan is a professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan with a courtesy appointment in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He received his Ph.D. from Duke University.
He is the Director of the Automotive Research Center, which leads the way in areas of autonomy of ground systems, including vehicle dynamics, control, and autonomous behavior, and fleet operations.
His research focuses on nonlinear dynamics of complex systems, such as teaming of autonomous vehicles and enhanced aircraft safety and performance. His research brings together interdisciplinary teams and consortia such as Government (NIH, NSF, DOE, DOD), Industry (Ford, Pratt & Whitney, GE, Airbus), and Academia. He has published over 350 articles in journals, conferences, and books.
Advisors
Prof. Jungo Kasai
Technical Advisor β AI
Jungo Kasai is a Research Assistant Professor in Computer Science at the Toyota Technology Institute at Chicago (TTIC). He received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Washington.
He specializes in natural language processing and machine learning, with numerous papers accepted at top-tier international conferences. With internship experiences at Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, and the Allen Institute for AI, he has a deep understanding of the processes and elements required for AI to be used in real-world applications. He received the Best Paper Award at NAACL2023 in the field of AI. He is an IBM Ph.D. Fellow and a recipient of the Masason Foundation Scholarship and the Funai Overseas Scholarship.
Shigeki βTommyβ Saitoh
Advisor β Business and Strategy
Shigeki βTommyβ Saitoh is a leading venture capitalist in Japan with over 15 years of investment experience, specializing in technology investments and cross-
border business development for portfolio companies. Tommy also served as the head of the global business division of the JVCA (Japan Venture Capital Association) through 2016-2019. Before his VC career, he had been an internet entrepreneur at Netscape, Digital Garage, etc. with a few IPO track records.
Tommy received a BA in Economics from the University of Tokyo, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management in High-tech Venture Management.
Shunichi Takeuchi
Advisor β Business and Strategy
Shunichi Takeuchi is the CEO of NTT Data MHI Systems, a joint venture between NTT DATA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Shuichi boasts a wealth of hands-on experience in the communications industry, excels in government relations, and has a notable track record of leading large corporations.
Shinichi received his BA in Economics from Kyoto University.