Autonomous vehicle industry leader joins May Mobility to strengthen technical leadership and accelerate the company’s next phase of global scale.
ANN ARBOR, MI, UNITED STATES, July 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — May Mobility Inc., a leading autonomous vehicle (AV) technology company, today announced the appointment of Balajee Kannan as senior vice president of autonomy core engineering, effective June 29, 2026. In this role, Kannan will help May Mobility advance its core autonomy capabilities, scale its autonomous vehicle deployments and execute on its commercial ride-hail strategy.
Kannan brings more than 25 years of experience in robotics and autonomous systems. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Autonomy at Motional, where he led the autonomy, mapping, sensors and systems teams responsible for developing and scaling a global Level 4 autonomous driving program. He has also held senior engineering and leadership roles at Argo AI, Amazon, and GE, and holds multiple robotics patents. Earlier in his career, he co-founded a company focused on autonomous maritime systems.
“I’ve spent more than 25 years in robotics and autonomy, and believe this industry is now at a critical inflection point where breakthrough technology is meeting real-world scale,” said Kannan. “May Mobility stands out for its bold vision and passionate individuals dedicated to the mission, and I’m excited to help shape the next generation of autonomous systems alongside this team.”
In his new role, Kannan will oversee autonomy performance, integration, machine learning modeling, perception, behavior, mapping and localization. He will work closely with his counterpart, Jacob Crossman, senior vice president of autonomy engineering, who leads efforts to commercialize and scale the technology through vehicle platform engineering, software release management and autonomy safety testing and validation. Alongside CEO and founder Dr. Edwin Olson, they form May Mobility’s technical leadership team responsible for defining strategy and driving execution as the company scales its autonomous services globally.
“Balajee is one of the most accomplished autonomy leaders in the industry, with a proven track record of turning breakthrough technologies into reliable, deployed systems,” said Olson. “His technical expertise and leadership will be instrumental in preparing our autonomy system to scale to new markets globally.”
These developments come amid accelerating momentum for May Mobility, including new and expanding partnerships across the ride-hail and automotive ecosystems, as well as the continued rollout of next-generation autonomy systems designed to support future driverless deployments. To date, May Mobility has completed more than 550,000 commercial rides and driven over 1.1 million autonomous miles in the U.S. and Japan, including driverless deployments across multiple U.S. markets, as it advances toward broader commercial adoption of autonomous transportation.
Kannan joins following the recent appointments of Thomas Fennimore as chief financial officer and Matthew Wood as vice president of autonomy verification & validation, further strengthening May Mobility’s executive leadership team. Kannan and Crossman will lead a bolstered autonomy team, driving greater technological development as the company scales through strategic partnerships, expands into priority markets globally and enters its next phase of commercial growth.
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Karsten Kutterer, Senior Communications Manager
May Mobility
media@maymobility.com
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