Professor David Keene MBE is the founder and chief executive of Aurrigo International plc, the AIM-listed Coventry company that builds autonomous baggage, cargo and shuttle vehicles for airports alongside wiring and electrical systems for carmakers.
In March 2026 it signed a £6.28m contract with Ultra Global to build 25 autonomous guided vehicles, the largest vehicle manufacturing order in its history, and in September it reported first-half revenue up 19 per cent to £4.2m. This year it has also moved into a 130,615 sq ft engineering hub at Power Park in Coventry, more than three times the size of its previous site.
He tells Business Matters why aviation is the big opportunity, why he wishes he had started sooner and why he refuses to micromanage.
What do you currently do at Aurrigo International plc?
It depends on who you ask. On paper, I am the chief executive officer of Aurrigo International plc, a world leader in autonomous aviation solutions and the supply of advanced parts and systems for clients involved in automotive and defence.
As the founder of the business, old habits die hard, and I probably get involved in a lot more technical things than your typical leader would do.
My remit is mainly focused on business strategy and growth, maximising our move onto the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market, where we currently sit with a market capitalisation of over £100m.
I am still heavily involved in driving new business opportunities and am regularly in contact with airports around the world where one of our vehicles or our digital simulation platforms are being deployed in real time to deliver cost, operational and environmental improvements.
Outside of the day job, I am a visiting professor at Coventry University and am hugely passionate about developing the UK’s next generation of engineering, manufacturing and technology professionals.
This is not just empty platitudes. I regularly engage in fireside discussions, deliver keynote presentations and have recently signed off on Aurrigo’s commitment to support more apprentices and graduates.
What was the inspiration behind your business?
Aurrigo International is split into two main areas of activity. We have our core wiring harness, electronics, software, wiring systems, trim and composite business for tier 1 and automotive OEM customers, and then we have the defence and autonomous divisions.
The latter was started in 2014, as we had done some telematics projects for London 2012 and recognised a big opportunity for driverless vehicles. We are not talking cars like Waymo, JLR and Google are trying to do, but more first or last mile industrial and transport solutions.
We had some early wins, with our passenger pods and shuttles regularly seen on the roads of Milton Keynes and Cambridge, but over time this morphed into where I see the really big opportunity: aviation.
My passion was always to create a UK-based technology leader and that is what we have done with Aurrigo. Our Auto-Dolly, Auto-Cargo and Auto-Shuttle vehicles have been tested at ten global airports, and the results have been fantastic when compared to existing manual methods.
We now have a powerful business case for the sector and people are listening. Earlier this year, we secured our largest ever contract, with Ultra Global asking us to build the first 25 of its autonomous vehicles at our advanced engineering facility in Coventry.
Who do you admire?
I have always admired people who have built companies from scratch and those that have managed to scale them to great heights. The UK is unbelievable for innovation, but it does struggle with the commercial valley of death, where most of our good ideas are taken overseas and exploited as there is more of an appetite for risk.
Obvious examples of people I have a lot of respect for would be James Dyson and Richard Branson, two of our country’s best known business leaders. I also admire those that have invested and made money whilst developing and supporting companies along the way.
Warren Buffett and his mentor Benjamin Graham are two perfect examples. It takes a special type of person to spot the opportunity or the individual, back it with your own money and see what happens.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
Not really. I have enjoyed everything I have done or tried to do. And as many of my colleagues will tell you, I always reel off the old adage to them: “Never say if I could only go back and change things.”
For me, you take decisions in the moment and live by them. Good decisions are great, and bad decisions just need correcting as quickly as possible. The older you get, you also make the conscious decision to learn from them, which can be as invaluable as getting it right in the first place.
If I must select one thing that I would have done better, it would be to have believed in the fact I could run a business far earlier than I actually did. A big part of me feels like I waited too long to start Aurrigo but, of course, in another way you could argue I still carried on learning and was better prepared for when I eventually took the plunge.
What defines your way of doing business?
That is a great question and I would probably answer differently depending on the day you asked it. I suppose with Aurrigo we have tried to do things differently and that approach has paid off.
We are often competing against companies 100 times our size, but our ability to move quickly and pivot when needed has meant a lot of our technology has enjoyed first mover advantage, and that is opening lots and lots of doors.
I am also a firm believer in backing people. A lot of our senior management team have been with me on this journey for many years and are unbelievable in what they do, much better than I am.
There is no point in trying to micromanage them. Give them your trust and they will repay you ten times over.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Believe in yourself and, it is an old-fashioned saying, but trust your gut instinct.
Looking back, I think I could have started my business at least three years earlier than I did. At the time I did not quite have enough confidence, probably the same confidence that comes with getting older and wiser.
Whatever you end up doing, be it starting a business, changing job or just doing something different, do it now and, if it works, then great, build on it. If it does not quite go to plan, then the best people recognise that quickly and make changes. Do not worry about mistakes, just be decisive.
