Aicha Evans

CEO of Zoox, an autonomous vehicle company working on electric ride-hailing services.

Aicha Evans, the CEO of Zoox, an autonomous vehicle company working on electric ride-hailing services.

Born in Senegal, Evans spent her childhood years in Paris and earned her BS in Computer Engineering from George Washington University in the United States.

Her career journey:
▶ Over 10 years in engineering management at Rockwell, Conexant, and Skyworks, where she worked on wireless communication technologies.
▶ She joined Intel in 2006 and rose to Corporate VP and Chief Strategy Officer, driving the company's strategy in 5G, AI, and cloud computing.
▶ In 2019, she became CEO of Zoox and took charge of the company's vision of developing a fleet of zero-emission and autonomous vehicles.

Evans led Zoox to its acquisition by Amazon for $1.3 billion 2020, maintaining it as a stand-alone business and keeping her role as CEO. Zoox, unlike competitors who retrofit existing cars, builds a purpose-built, square vehicle without traditional driver controls.

She has been recognized in:
▶ Forbes' 50 Over 50 list in 2021
▶ Business Insider's list of 100 People Transforming Business in the transportation category in 2019
▶ George Washington University’s Engineering Hall of Fame in 2012

Evans is a refreshing example of an intrapreneur, blending AI innovation with a corporate culture.

She told Fast Company, “I am not a Silicon Valley-like founder,” she says. “I take a lot of risk, and I like disruption, but I grew up through the corporate engine.”