Our vision

Our mission at Velo AI is to improve safety for all forms of mobility via the use of advanced tech. With our first product Copilot, we're building the world's smartest bicycle safety platform; to stop crashes and fatalities before they can happen and make streets safer for everyone.

Meet the team

Clark Haynes, PhD
Founder, CEO

Clark is a robotics expert with over two decades of experience developing cutting-edge autonomous vehicles and robotic systems. He has developed wall climbing robots with DARPA, traveled to Fukushima to study robotic applications for disaster scenarios, and tested robots running around the desert with the intelligence community. Clark led the Prediction team at Uber’s autonomous vehicle division, as well as led the Carnegie Mellon team that completed the DARPA Robotics Challenge.  He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon, and a B.S.E. from the University of Michigan.

Micol Marchetti-Bowick, PhD
Co-founder, CTO

Micol has spent the majority of her career developing machine learning approaches for understanding complex interactions among traffic actors. At Velo, she is excited to continue thinking about these problems while placing bicyclists and other vulnerable road users front and center. Micol was previously with Uber ATG and most recently at Aurora Innovation, where she led teams in Prediction and Motion Planning working on core models for intent prediction and discrete decision-making. She holds a Ph.D. in Machine Learning from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.S. and B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Alison Treaster
Chief of Staff

Alison has spent her career building global communities and is leading commercial partnership and community-building efforts for Velo AI. Previously, Alison led community impact initiatives at Argo AI and prior to that worked for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development leading strategic talent initiatives and supporting regional economic development. She holds an M.A from Georgetown University and a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University.

Our story

How we got to where we are today

November 2019
— Ideation —
Clark starts brainstorming novel approaches to improve safety for vulnerable road users, a growing problem.
August 2020
— Design —
At the height of the pandemic, influenced by a LOT of bike rides, Clark starts to work on Copilot as a “pandemic passion project.”
February 2021
— AI Smarts —
Using a smartphone strapped to a bike, we prototype our first AI and ML algorithms designed for bike safety.
September 2021
— First Hardware —
We demonstrate we can pack all of the AI and ML smarts into hardware small enough for a bike light and full-time efforts on developing Copilot begin.
April 2022
— Product Engineering —
Velo partners with Pittsburgh-based manufacturer, Hellbender, for product engineering and VELO.AI, INC. is officially registered.
August 2022
— First Test Ride —
Clark takes the very first full Copilot prototype out for a test ride.

relume

verb

[ri-loom]
To relight or rekindle (a light, flame, etc.)

October 2022
— Copilots in the wild —
Our first group of 20 beta testers hit the streets in Pittsburgh, PA.  Data collection begins along with rapid iteration on product designs
February 2023
🚀 We grew!
— Cofounder —
Micol joins Velo as cofounder and CTO, significantly boosting our team’s AI and ML prowess.
Fall 2023
— Demo Rides —
Future customers hit the road with Velo staff to test the final product.
October 2023
— First customer —
Adam joined our ride toward safer streets as the first official customer!
December 2023
— Sold Out! —
Our limited 2023 run sold out in 24 hours! Pre-sale orders for 2024 shipping are available now. Click the red box to order today!