AEye, a US-based developer of active, high-performance lidar solutions, has announced the appointment of Rick Tewell as chief operating officer (COO). He will oversee operations, focusing on the continued industrialization and commercialization of the company’s systems.
Tewell joins AEye from Velodyne Lidar, where he served most recently as COO. During his career, he has held progressively senior roles in both hardware and embedded software across industry-leading high-tech companies including Nvidia, Freescale, NXP and VeriSilicon. He has accumulated more than 30 years of engineering and operations experience, including two decades in automotive electronics.
“Rick is a highly respected technical and business leader, and one of the few COOs with deep automotive and lidar expertise,” said Luis Dussan, founder, president and CTO of AEye. “He is uniquely positioned to help AEye accelerate volume production at scale with our Tier 1 and contract manufacturing partners, given his extensive knowledge of hardware and software engineering, supply chain and operations, coupled with his industry domain expertise in automotive, semiconductors and lidar.”
“I am thrilled to join the AEye team – a group of seasoned executives with technological excellence, operating within an efficient, capital-light, scalable business model, and fostering an outstanding corporate culture,” added Tewell. “I was attracted to the next-generation system design, wherein AEye’s sensors are centered around a highly manufacturable hardware core, coupled with exceptionally configurable AI-powered software. I look forward to playing a key role in helping AEye bring the world’s best lidar sensors and technologies to the masses.”