electric-wheelchair
(2)
Satoshi Sugie
Satoshi Sugie is the Co-founder and CEO of WHILL, a San Mateo-based personal mobility company that has reimagined the electric wheelchair as a design-forward consumer product. Drawing on his automotive design background at Nissan, Sugie co-founded WHILL in 2012 with a mission to redefine how people perceive and use mobility devices. Under his leadership, WHILL has grown to 350 employees, expanded to 30+ countries, raised over $153 million in funding, and deployed nearly one million autonomous rides at airports worldwide including Tokyo's Haneda, Rome Fiumicino, and Narita. Named to Silicon Valley Business Journal's 40 Under 40 in 2017 and recognized by TIME Magazine's 50 Best Inventions, Sugie's approach treats mobility not as a medical necessity but as an aspirational lifestyle product.
WHILL
WHILL designs and manufactures intelligent personal electric vehicles - sleek power chairs and an autonomous mobility service - that reframe the wheelchair as a piece of consumer technology. Founded in 2012 by three Japanese engineers from Nissan, Sony and Olympus, the company sells the Model C2 and Model F directly to consumers and operates an autonomous fleet service at airports including Haneda, Narita and Winnipeg.