New chair for Oxford autonomy firm
Oxa, the Oxford-based autonomous vehicle technology company, has appointed Andrew Heath as Chair of its Board of Directors, the company announced on 11 November 2026. Heath was formerly Chief Executive of Spectris plc and has also held senior roles at Imagination Technologies, Alent and Rolls-Royce, where he spent almost three decades including spells as President of Rolls-Royce Energy and Chief Executive of Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems.
Oxa said the appointment follows the first close of its Series D funding round in March 2026, which raised $103 million. The company said it is now concentrating on what it calls Industrial Mobile Autonomy, or IMA, which means deploying its self-driving technology to carry out driving tasks in ports, airports, manufacturing sites and logistics hubs rather than on public roads.
What Oxa builds
According to the company, its technology stack includes self-driving software called Oxa Driver, a development toolchain named Oxa Foundry, fleet management software Oxa Hub, and hardware kits called Oxa Ware that fit sensors, compute and drive-by-wire systems to vehicles made by other manufacturers. Oxa says this lets operators automate towing and carrying of goods at industrial sites to improve efficiency, productivity and safety while cutting costs.
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Oxford, Oxa describes itself as developing what it calls the world’s first complete AI logistics platform for autonomous industrial vehicles.
Chair handover tied to Dubai venture
Heath succeeds Clive Scrivener, who is stepping down after 12 years as Oxa’s Non-Executive Chair. Scrivener will instead become Chair and Director of SHIFFT, a joint venture between Oxa and the Dubai Future Foundation that was announced in August 2026. Oxa said SHIFFT is intended to position Dubai as a hub for autonomous logistics, with a focus on ports, airports and other industrial sites.
The company named DP World as SHIFFT’s first strategic partner. DP World, according to Oxa, operates more than 900 vehicles at Jebel Ali Port and thousands more across upwards of 60 ports and terminals worldwide. Oxa said it has already shipped its first autonomous terminal tractors to Dubai for deployment through SHIFFT, and that the venture is targeting its first large-scale commercial deployment before the end of 2027.
What it means
Paul Newman, Oxa’s founder and chief executive, said in the release that IMA represents a significant commercial opportunity and that Heath’s industrial leadership experience will support the company’s execution. Heath said he was looking forward to helping turn Oxa’s engineering capability into commercially viable products at scale.
For UK industry watchers, the appointment signals that Oxa, one of Britain’s more established autonomous vehicle developers, is narrowing its commercial focus away from broader self-driving ambitions and towards industrial sites such as ports and airports, both domestically and internationally. The Series D first close in March 2026 and the Dubai joint venture suggest the company is leaning on international capital and partnerships, including with Gulf state-backed bodies, to fund that shift.
What to watch next
The next concrete milestone to track is SHIFFT’s targeted first scalable commercial deployment, which Oxa says it expects before the end of 2027. Readers should also watch for further detail on the Series D round, including whether Oxa discloses a final close amount or additional investors beyond the $103 million first close reported here.