Alan Hicks is the CTO of Manna Drone Delivery. Alan leads Manna's technology function and team, and sets the direction and future vision of the platform. Whenever time allows Alan has his sleeves rolled up and is also coding the platform. Alan is an experienced technology leader who specialises in distributed systems and Internet technologies. He has built and led distributed teams of engineers working on cutting edge technology systems. In 2007 he joined CarTrawler, then a small company with just 25 people. He stayed with the business in a technology leadership role until 2019 at which point it had scaled to be the world's largest online car rental distribution technology platform with more than 500 staff.
Past Talks
9 October 2024
In this session, Alan, the CTO of Manna, will show how their cutting-edge advancements in AI and machine learning have powered their latest drone iteration. Alan will walk you through how Manna leverages advanced algorithms to transform navigation and collision avoidance, setting new standards in drone delivery technology. This session will address the challenges of managing vast datasets with the goal of reducing delivery delays and enhancing efficiency. Learn how Manna's team incorporates AI-driven real-time route optimization and robust safety measures, and explore how these innovations can be applied to streamline operational workflows for product teams, designers, and engineers.
Key Takeaways:
- Understand the integration of AI and machine learning for drone navigation and collision avoidance.
- Learn how to better handle and process large datasets to improve delivery efficiency and reduce delays.
- The benefits of AI-driven real-time route optimization for operational workflows.
- Gain insights into the advanced safety protocols employed to ensure secure and reliable drone operations.
- Explore how these AI and ML-driven strategies can be applied across various product development and engineering teams to enhance overall efficiency and effectiveness.
12 October 2022
There are a number of ways technology companies scale fast. Scaleups that acquire other companies achieve their goals faster than those who grow organically, however they have mammoth culture, team and product integration complexities. Those who have grown organically, that culture and process that helped define their launch can be one of the hardest things to scale. Leaders of these companies are under pressure to determine which elements are worth preserving, how they align with the forward-looking business strategy, and how to define and foster that's ideal as the organization expands and integrates new people into the ranks.
- Integration of acquisition: How you bring that into your portfolio
- How do you manage that coupled with organic growth
- Balancing short and long-term vision
10 October 2022
Building software products is challenging. But when you are also responsible for building the hardware in parallel there are a number of additional considerations to factor in. In this talk, Alan will share how they are designing and developing the drones for the Manna drone delivery service and making sure that drones don't fall from the sky!