Mandali Khalesi

Mandali Khalesi is the Vice President of Automated Driving, and Head of Automated Driving Strategy and Mapping at Woven Planet Holdings*. He is concurrently the Global Head of Automated Driving Mobility and Innovation, and the Project General Manager of Automated Driving & Advanced Safety System Management Div. at Advanced R&D and Engineering Company of Toyota Motor Corporation. He is a former Chair of ITS Japan's Automated Driving Support Center working group, supporting the development of automated driving mobility to benefit local communities in the regions outside the Tokyo metropolis.

Originally a masters graduate in Astrophysics from University College London, Mandali moved to Japan in 1999 working in IT for local government and software companies.

In 2005 Mandali established Japan's first location-based mobile advertising business for luxury brands in a traditional Japanese house complete with moss garden in downtown Tokyo. After the receipt of multiple awards, such as being named one of the top tech entrepreneurs in Asia, in 2008 he moved to Europe to work on developing location-based software products at groundbreaking companies such as TomTom NV, Binatone Telecom PLC and Nokia OY. He returned to Japan in 2014 to head up the Asia-Pacific Automotive products business for Nokia HERE, later acquired by a consortium of premium automakers Daimler, Audi and BMW.

Mandali believes that “mobility for all” should be a human right. He is driven to enable people of all economic and social backgrounds to move freely, including goods and services. He is eager to help Woven Planet Group develop the global infrastructure to support that transformation.

Mandali is also an avid musician. He started DJing at age 14, bringing his DJ skills to the Tokyo nightlife in 2003. Mandali later started a rock band with his wife and friends where he played guitar and sang at live gigs around Tokyo.