William Sachiti
Sachiti on London Live 2017
BornMay 1984 (age 39)
Harare, Zimbabwe
EducationArtificial Intelligence & Robotics
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, Inventor
Known forDragons' Den, Kar-go, mycityvenue, Academy of Robotics

Pasi William Sachiti (born May 1984) is a Zimbabwean-born [1] British entrepreneur and inventor. Sachiti is the founder and CEO of Academy of Robotics, an autonomous technology company which is primarily known for developing street-legal self-driving vehicles[2][3] and solutions for road maintenance.[4][5]

Career

Early ventures

William Sachiti appeared on the BBC investment programme Dragons' Den in 2009 seeking investment for his company - Clever Bins. Clever Bins manufactured solar-powered digital advertising bins intended for public spaces. The Dragons did not invest in the business (with Dragon Peter Jones describing Sachiti's pitch as "infuriating and complete rubbish", and "the biggest load of bull I've ever heard in the Den"),[6] but the business continued trading and secured a partnership with Keep Britain Tidy [7] and trials with local councils in Manchester [8] and London.[9]

In 2011 Sachiti (along with co-founder Ronald Ndoro) went on to develop a digital concierge service known as mycityvenue, which operated for a short time before being acquired by SecretEscapes in 2014.[10][11][12]

While studying at Aberystwyth University, Sachiti and another student (Ariel Ladegaard) developed a prototype robot for navigating users around the main library at the university.[13][14] Sachiti left the university before graduating,[15] but still won an entrepreneurship prize along with Laadegard and another student - Aparajit Narayan. The trio were awarded £10,000 in prize money by the university’s entrepreneurship program for developing a theoretical solution to the last-mile delivery problem called Car-go (later renamed to Kar-go).[15]

Sachiti later founded a company to build on these early projects - Academy of Robotics. The Kar-go vehicle was developed further in collaboration with Pilgrim Motorsports, before finally being revealed in July 2019 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.[16][17][18][19][20]

The green, futuristic-looking Kar-go autonomous delivery vehicle driving on the roads through RAF Brize Norton air base during trials in 2021. RAF personnel are walking alongside it and cars are parked beside the road
The Kar-go autonomous delivery vehicle driving through RAF Brize Norton air base during trials in 2021

Personal life

In early 2022, William Sachiti purchased a former RAF base (RAF Neatishead)[21][22] and moved onto the site in Norfolk.

References

  1. ↑ "This Zimbabwean has built a self-driving car in the UK. And it will be on the streets in 6 months". Techzim. 10 July 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "UK's first robot delivery vehicle completes landmark journey". The Independent. 2020-11-10. Archived from the original on 2023-03-28. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  3. ↑ Davis, Anthony (2020-10-29). "Kar-go Delivery Bot approved for use on British roads". Highways Today. Archived from the original on 2022-08-13. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  4. ↑ "Eurovia trials robo-cars to ferry tools to highways sites". Construction Enquirer. Archived from the original on 2023-03-28. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  5. ↑ "Academy of Robotics and Eurovia to trial Kar-go for road maintenance". www.roadtraffic-technology.com. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  6. ↑ Robertson, Charles. "BBC - Dragons' Den - Entrepreneurs - William T Sachiti". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-05-20. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  7. ↑ "News". March 14, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-03-14.
  8. ↑ News, Manchester Evening (December 23, 2010). "Dragons' Den Clever Bins coming to an Oldham street near you". Manchester Evening News. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  9. ↑ "Citizen Space Local". July 8, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08.
  10. ↑ O'Hear, Steve (July 24, 2014). "Secret Escapes Acquires My City Venue To Add More Events To Luxury Travel Club".
  11. ↑ Dunsby, Megan (July 25, 2014). "Secret Escapes acquires My City Venue to strengthen events arm - Startups.co.uk".
  12. ↑ https://app.dealroom.co/companies/secret_escapes
  13. ↑ "Meet Hugh, the robot librarian - Aberystwyth University". Aber. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  14. ↑ "Library Robot Coming to Welsh University". Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  15. 1 2 "Car-go delivers £10,000 InvEnterPrize - Aberystwyth University". www.aber.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-03-06. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  16. ↑ "Kar-go is go". www.goodwood.com. Archived from the original on 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  17. ↑ Reuters Editorial. "Futuristic driverless vehicle offers 'last mile' delivery solution | Reuters Video". reut.rs. Retrieved 2023-03-17. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  18. ↑ "Autonomous delivery van drives at Goodwood Festival of Speed | Computer Weekly". ComputerWeekly.com. Archived from the original on 2022-12-08. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  19. ↑ Scammell, Robert (2019-07-06). "Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019: The top tech on show". Verdict. Archived from the original on 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  20. ↑ "Robot parcel deliveries are coming — but very slowly". Sifted. 2019-07-24. Archived from the original on 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  21. ↑ "BBC One - Look East". BBC. Archived from the original on 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
  22. ↑ Newton, Simon (12 May 2022). "Heart of Britain's Cold War defences gets new life as launch pad for cutting-edge tech". Forces Network. Archived from the original on 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
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