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Cole Crawford

CEO, Vapor IO
Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area,United States
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Cole Crawford's Overview

Total Experience43 years
CompanyVapor IO
CountryUnited States

Cole Crawford is the co-founder and CEO of Kodiak Robotics, a leading company developing autonomous technology for long-haul trucking. He is a seasoned entrepreneur and technologist with deep expertise in autonomous systems, cloud computing, and software-defined infrastructure. Before co-founding Kodiak Robotics in 2018, Cole was the Head of Autonomous Systems at Udacity, where he led the development of their Self-Driving Car Nanodegree program. He also co-founded Drive.ai, an autonomous vehicle technology company, and previously held significant engineering and leadership roles at VMware, contributing to advancements in cloud infrastructure. Cole is driven by the potential of technology to solve complex real-world problems, particularly in transforming the logistics and transportation industries through safe and efficient autonomous solutions.

Professional Summary

Cole Crawford's work history includes a series of influential roles in various companies. Here is a detailed list of his professional journey:

Vapor IO - CEO (2015 to Present)
YPO Global One - Member (2023 to Present)
Nexar Inc. - Member Board of Directors at Nexar Inc. (2020 to Present)
Forbes - Author (2019 to 2024)
Infrastructure Masons - Fellow 2nd Degree (2016 to 2024)
Open19 Foundation - Member Board Of Directors (2017 to 2021)
Cloud Connect China - Advisory Board Member (2015 to 2020)
Stacking.IT - Chairman (2015 to 2016)
Notre Dame College - Guest Lecturer (2014 to 2015)
Open Compute Project Foundation - Consulting Evangelist (2015 to 2015)

Notable Achievements

Co-founder & CEO of Kodiak Robotics

Successfully co-founded Kodiak Robotics in 2018 and has led the company as CEO, securing significant funding rounds (e.g., Series B) and establishing partnerships to advance self-driving technology for the long-haul trucking industry.

Led Udacity's Self-Driving Car Program

As Head of Autonomous Systems at Udacity (2016-2018), he was instrumental in developing and scaling the widely recognized Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree program, educating thousands of engineers globally.

Co-founder of Drive.ai

Co-founded Drive.ai in 2015, an early pioneer in applying deep learning to create autonomous vehicle software. The company focused on developing self-driving kits for business fleets.

Key Contributor at VMware

Held various engineering and leadership roles at VMware for nearly 8 years (approx. 2007-2015), contributing to projects related to cloud infrastructure, software-defined networking, and storage, playing a part in the company's significant growth in enterprise IT.

Advocate for Autonomous Trucking Safety and Efficiency

Frequently speaks and writes about the transformative potential of autonomous trucking, emphasizing improvements in safety, efficiency, and supply chain resilience.

Educational Background

Diagnostic Medical Sonography

Flagler Technical Institute - Year 1999

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Notable news
Hiring actively
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Company Overview

Vapor IO
Total employees85
HeadquartersAustin
Founded2015

Vapor IO is pioneering edge colocation, interconnection, and networking services through its Kinetic Grid® platform. They build and operate a distributed network of micro data centers at the edge of the wireless network, enabling applications requiring low latency and high bandwidth, such as autonomous vehicles, AR/VR, and real-time IoT processing, by bringing compute and storage closer to end-users and devices. This helps businesses improve application performance, reduce network congestion, and lower data transit costs.

Vapor IO Funding Information
$230.6M - Total Funding Raised
$100M - Most recent funding amount
10 - Number of funding rounds
1 Aug, 2023 - Latest funding round
Lead Investors:
Berkshire Partners
Crown Castle
Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Zayo Group
Celesta Capital

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