Autonomous drone company Near Earth Autonomy announced that Gur Kimchi, a cofounder of Amazon.com Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AMZN) drone delivery service named Amazon Prime Air, has joined the Pittsburgh startup company's board of directors.
“This is a perfect fit for my personal and professional experience and mission. Near Earth’s leaders and I share the same passion for using autonomous-safety capabilities to transport urban air mobility from a futuristic vision to a daily reality,” Kimchi said in a statement. "I look forward to serving on Near Earth’s board, helping to improve aerospace and logistics ecosystems around the world.”
Kimchi served as the vice president of Amazon Prime Air from 2012 to 2020 before his retirement from the tech giant late last year. Before then, he held leadership posts at Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and at five different startups. He has nearly 300 issued patents and in 2015, he designed the Federated Airspace Management Model, which aims to serve as a foundational technology that can enable autonomous operations within the nation's transportation system.
“Gur deeply understands the technological, operational and regulatory challenges in making autonomous aerospace products practical,” Sanjiv Singh, CEO of Near Earth Autonomy, said in a statement. “He is recognized worldwide for his expertise at the intersection of technology and business innovation. We are excited to work together to deliver the future of flight.”
