Carel van Helsdingen

Carel van Helsdingen, MSc (1950) is founder of Frog Navigation Systems and its spin-out company 2getthere, acting as its Chief Executive Officer. After graduating from the University of Technology in Delft in manufacturing engineering, Carel worked at Fluor Daniel, IBM and Burginvest Project Development before founding Frog Navigation Systems in 1984.

Carel has been in the automated transportation industry since 1984, realizing the world’s first free ranging Automated Guided Vehicles for industrial applications. Based on the on the company’s state-of-the-art technology, his vision lead to new markets for automated vehicles: ports, entertainment parks and people mover systems.

As CEO he was responsible for the growth of the company and successful applications at multinational companies such as GM, VW, Sony, HP, Apple and Disney. Recognizing the potential of autonomous vehicles, he lead the spin-out of 2getthere in 2007 and the delivery of the world’s first PRT application open to the public in 2010.

In addition to CEO of 2getthere, Carel coaches young entrepreneurs in the Netherlands.