A software maker for computing platforms that support drones and autonomous robotics systems has relocated its headquarters from Moorpark, California, outside of Los Angeles to Arlington as it seeks to be closer to its defense-related customers.
Auterion Ltd. has already had some of its 112 employees based in Greater Washington for several years, but the company's HQ presence at 3100 Clarendon Blvd., across the street from the Clarendon Metro station, now serves as its global base of operations. It also maintains research and development offices in Munich, Germany and Zürich, Switzerland — where CEO and co-founder Lorenz Meier initially established the firm in 2018.
Chief Financial Officer Scott Henry told me the company has been planning this move "for quite some time," though specific details such as how many people will relocate here are still being worked out. Auterion will be shuttering its Moorpark site.
He said he expects the company to employ about 150 workers by the end of the year, an increase of about 34%.
"We expect to continue to grow our presence not just in the Arlington, Virginia, area but globally," he said.
The company did not disclose how much space it occupies in Arlington, but Henry implied that it's likely a temporary spot as the company scouts for a more permanent location somewhere in the county. Industrious, a co-working firm, maintains a 40,000-square-foot site within the same building, though Auterion wouldn't confirm if that's where it's officially based.
"We're committed to being there, I don't know if we're committed to being in a specific location like we selected," Henry said. "But we're coming to the D.C. area and to Arlington specifically. … It's the place where the future of the industry is being shaped and driven and it's a place where we want to stay present and highly relevant in the discussion and be closer to our customers."
While he declined to name names, he shared that Auterion has worked with agencies within the Department of Defense and others seeking its autonomous systems technology, adding that the move here will it better meet increased demand.
"We're seeing this as a movement not just for the U.S. but around the world and that's why the timing is right; it's the adoption and the embracement of these technologies that we've built, that we develop and enable through the deployment of robotics and unmanned vehicles," Henry said. "The company has been very focused on advancing these technologies and these capabilities specifically for federal agencies as well as for enterprise customers over time."
Auterion is the latest of several defense contractors to move its headquarters to the D.C. region in order to be nearer to federal agencies. Aerospace Corp., a national nonprofit that conducts space-related research for the federal government, relocated to Chantilly from El Segundo, California, in March. The Boeing Co. and RTX Corp. — when it was still known as Raytheon Technologies Inc. — shifted their corporate headquarters here from Chicago and Waltham, Massachusetts, respectively, in 2022 and a year earlier AeroVironment Inc. relocated to Crystal City from its longtime home in Simi Valley, California, in 2021.
