Oxford: Oxbotica accelerates growth with move to bigger offices

Oxbotica, the award-winning Oxford-based autonomous vehicle software company that is challenging Silicon Valley tech giants, has announced its plans to open a new office in the heart of the vibrant community of Summertown, Oxford, to accommodate rapid growth and further leverage the area’s diverse technology talent pool.

In addition to planned expansion at Oxbotica’s test grounds and workshop based at Culham, South Oxfordshire, the new office space triples the office footprint and supports the company’s growth strategy. The expansion enables Oxbotica to accelerate growth in both software and hardware engineering, as they take on more and more driverless car projects with various Tier 1s and OEMs. It allows Oxbotica to hire another 60 to 80 people, a key next step in their strategy - and bolstering Oxford’s reputation as a rising hub for tech companies.

“The decision to expand our presence in Oxford is a logical step in our growth strategy,” said Graeme Smith, CEO, Oxbotica. “We at first wanted to call it our ‘World Headquarters’ but as we recently licensed our software to work on Mars, we’re now dubbing it our ‘Galactic Headquarters’. Oxford is a great place to be, with a rich talent pool coming straight from the university, and exciting developments for the testing of autonomous cars around the city. We are really happy to have reached this big milestone, along our path to achieve Level 4 Autonomous Driving by 2019.”

Commercial property specialists, VSL & Partners agreed a 10-year lease on 5,875 sq ft of office accommodation at Milford House, Mayfield Road in Summertown.

Richard Venables, director at VSL, explained: “We are delighted to have secured Milford House to Oxbotica, another successful university spin-out company which is clearly thriving - we wish them many years of success. This deal further underpins the current momentum of emerging growth within the technology and innovation sector which is the real driver of the Oxfordshire economy at present.”

Richard Venables, director VSL & Partners, and Graeme Smith, CEO, Oxbotica