# Chris Carson

> Chris Carson co-founded Hayden AI in 2019 and served as CEO until September 2024. He now leads EchoTwin AI, which applies vehicle-based sensing and AI to urban infrastructure and municipal operations. His work includes the earlier connected-camera startup Caruma. Hayden filed a civil complaint against him in February 2026; the allegations are disputed matters, not established findings, and a published May 2026 tentative ruling granted his motion to compel arbitration.

- **Role:** Founder & Global CEO at EchoTwin AI
- **Organizations:** EchoTwin AI, Hayden AI, Caruma Technologies
- **Known for:** Co-founded Hayden AI and led it during the announcement of its 2021 Series A and July 2024 Series C., Founded EchoTwin AI in 2024., Developed and publicly demonstrated the Caruma connected-camera concept.

## Career timeline

- **2015** — Caruma Technologies founder; demonstrated a connected vehicle camera at TechCrunch Disrupt London.
- **2016** — Caruma announced a connected camera platform; Carson presented it at Plug and Play’s Winter Summit.
- **2019** — Co-founded Hayden AI with Vaibhav Ghadiok, Bo Shen and Michael Byrne.
- **2021** — Hayden announced a $20 million Series A led by TYH Ventures while Carson was CEO.
- **2024-07** — Hayden announced a $90 million Series C led by TPG’s The Rise Fund.
- **2024-09** — Carson’s tenure as Hayden CEO ended; he published a farewell on LinkedIn.
- **2024** — Founded EchoTwin AI.
- **2025-02** — EchoTwin announced a partnership with Traffic Tech (Gulf), with Carson attending the signing.
- **2026-02** — Hayden filed a civil complaint against Carson in San Francisco Superior Court.
- **2026-04** — Carson published EchoTwin’s CityVLM announcement.
- **2026-05** — A published court tentative ruling granted Carson’s motion to compel arbitration.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Hayden AI and led it during the announcement of its 2021 Series A and July 2024 Series C.
- Founded EchoTwin AI in 2024.
- Developed and publicly demonstrated the Caruma connected-camera concept.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Published May 11 tentative ruling in CGC-26-634274 granted his motion to compel arbitration; it is a procedural ruling rather than a finding on the merits.
- **2026-04** — Published April 28 CityVLM announcement, describing EchoTwin’s proprietary urban vision-language model.
- **2026-02** — Hayden filed a civil complaint alleging contract breaches, trade-secret misappropriation and unlawful computer access. These are plaintiff allegations.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cwcarson/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/chris-carson
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-08