Company Profile
AeroVironment, Inc.
Company Overview
AeroVironment (AV) is a rapidly growing technology solutions provider focusing on leading edge unmanned aircraft systems and efficient energy systems. Named as one of the top 15 “Cool Companies” to work for by Fortune magazine, we are looking for creative, committed, and visionary team members who are passionate about contributing to our customers’ success. Founded in 1971, AV is built upon four decades of harnessing human power to achieve breakthroughs in science, engineering, and customer productivity. AV’s late founder, Dr. Paul MacCready, named by Time magazine as one of the “greatest minds of the 20th century,” instilled a spirit of boundless imagination that drives our organization today. Be a part of the team that has a record of breaking records. AV developed the world’s highest flying airplane; developed the world’s most widely used unmanned aircraft system; and has seven vehicles displayed in the Smithsonian. AV also proposed and then co-developed the first modern electric car; designed and built the breakthrough solar-powered car that won the inaugural World Solar Challenge road race; installed thousands of charging stations for electric vehicles worldwide; and is building an electric vehicle ecosystem to redefine the way we drive.
More than 20 years ago the idea of a practical electric car was a twinkle in the eye of Paul MacCready, AV's founder and inventor of the first successful human powered airplane. After developing the Sunraycer, a solar-powered race car that beat its competitors in a race across Australia by more than 2 days, Dr. MacCready and his team proposed a radical idea to General Motors: develop an electric car that was a practical alternative to gas-powered cars. GM liked the idea, and hired AV to develop a prototype. Soon after, the first practical electric car, the GM Impact, was born. AV spent the next two decades developing electric and hybrid-electric vehicle concepts for customers, and creating charging systems and test systems designed to make EVs more practical.
Today AV is a leading supplier of high-power test systems used by automakers and advanced battery manufacturers to develop the next generation of electric vehicles. AV's industrial charging systems reliably power thousands of heavy-duty electric forklifts every day, making workplaces safer and more productive. We also supply portable, electric-powered unmanned aircraft that have changed the way military ground forces operate.
At AV, we believe that innovative new ideas can help improve people's lives.
Company History
The company was founded by the late Dr. Paul B. MacCready, an internationally renowned innovator whose approach to problem solving and engineering remains central to AV’s culture. Among a number of accolades, Dr. MacCready was selected as one of Time Magazine’s “20th
Century’s Greatest Minds.” The innovations of the company and its founder include, among others:
• The world’s first effective human-powered and manned solar-powered airplanes
• The first modern consumer electric car (the EV-1 prototype for General Motors)
• The world’s highest flying airplane in level flight, Helios, a solar-powered unmanned aircraft that reached more than 96,000 feet in 2001
• The world’s first liquid hydrogen-powered unmanned aircraft system (Global Observer prototype)
• The most prolific unmanned aircraft system in the world - Raven®
Seven AV innovations are part of the Smithsonian Institution’s collection.
Notable Clients
Nissan, NRG