Dr Mikhail Kostkin: Reinventing Safety in High-Stakes Work with Autonomous Innovations

“If people are brave enough to take on the world’s toughest jobs, they deserve technology brave enough to stand with them.” 

This isn’t just a slogan but the principle of Dr Mikhail Kostkin, CEO of Pek Automotive d.o.o., which has been helping him lead one of the most transformative automotive companies in the world. This belief has been the stepping stone of Pek Automotive – one of Europe’s most compelling innovators of customized autonomous mobiles and electric vehicles for agricultural, defence, and humanitarian missions. From treacherous agricultural slopes to frontline rescue operations and demanding defence environments, these vehicles are designed to reduce labour while increasing safety and efficiency. 

In other words, Mikhail is leading a venerable mission: to support those doing the world’s toughest jobs with smart and sustainable technology. By blending customizable engineering with a human-first mindset, he is positioning Pek Automotive as a pioneer of emission-free, GNSS-free automotive technology. As the world races towards sustainability in every sector, Mikhail stands out as a visionary who understands that technology must help mankind be more efficient and also support them in their toughest moments.  

The Vision: From Saving Time to Saving Lives

Pek Automotive is built around one simple mission – to help people, save time and resources while significantly reducing mission readiness time. Guided by this core mission, the company has diversified its technology and applications for use in different environments. However, it all began with the development of the Agroline pillar. Mikhail recalls that the company’s founders have spent years working on various special-purpose projects to build something socially beneficial. Those efforts paved the road to the idea of agricultural robotic systems for year-round operations. 

The moment of highlight arrived when one of their prototype autonomous vehicle was deployed in a remote village. “An elderly woman saw the robot working and said, “Oh, thank God, finally such a machine has appeared,” says Mikhail. This moment helped them realize that they are the first-ever to try something that can transform an entire agrocycle. By blending robotics engineering with a social purpose, Pek Automotive introduced two autonomous agrobots: Slopehelper and Agilehelper. Together, they cover the complete agrocycle. The agrobots have also paved the way for introducing autonomous technologies in other areas, such as firefighting robots, demining machines, and more innovative rescue vehicles.     

Customizable Technologies for System-level challenges

Pek Automotive found its stepping stone with its agrobots, and it has actively expanded its portfolio since. It has designed a pipeline of civil defence autonomous vehicles, starting with DeMiner. It is a lightweight, electric UGV with a mechanical flail system for fast, safe, and budget-friendly mine clearance. LUGV is a UGV designed for demanding logistics operations in rugged and austere environments. It has also developed a specialized robotic firefighting system called FFRS, which is equipped with a foam generator, 1700-litre water tank, and a 170-litre foam concentration tank. Lastly, they have developed the Vanquisher. It is an all-terrain amphibious EV engineered to carry heavy payloads through extreme environments (snow, mud, sand, water). 

Alongside robotic autonomous systems, Pek Automotive offers tailored ERP systems that simplify complex manufacturing operations. It also provides custom EV development technologies to build autonomous vehicles for agriculture, civil protection, defence and rescue, space, and more. Additionally, Pek Automotive provides advanced manufacturing solutions and equipment that cater to businesses focused on small batch production. With such a diversified portfolio, the company stands out for solving complex, system-level tasks.  

Ahead of the curve with Innovation and Foresight

Technology is evolving rapidly, and autonomous systems are one of the most dynamic sectors in the technology space. Most companies innovate within a narrow technological lens, but not Pek Automotive. As mentioned earlier, its competitive edge lies in its commitment to system-level solutions. As Mikhail emphasizes, systems with isolated features won’t succeed in these sectors. They would require complete, year-round operational capabilities. The Agroline is the prime example. The CEO highlights, “Even today, no competing agricultural system offers a fully integrated solution capable of functioning year-round and covering the entire spectrum of plantation-level operations.”

Another advantage is the company’s forward-looking approach towards product marketing. Instead of mirroring current market demands, Pek Automotive focuses on specifics around emerging expectations. Every development cycle takes input from direct consumer insight, such as what farmers, operators, and defence specialists will need tomorrow, not just what they use today. This customer-anchored vision enables the company to anticipate market shifts before they become trends while keeping it ahead in the race.

Vertical Integration – The Company’s Moat

Pek Automotive follows a fundamentally distinct development philosophy: complete technological sovereignty. Where most competitors assemble products from outsourced components, every mechanical element, electronic system, and software layer is developed in-house. This vertical integration model offers a rare advantage to build solutions that address complex, system-level challenges from the ground up. For instance, Slopehelper is designed to replace an entire fleet of traditional agricultural machinery (tractors, sprayers, harvesters, mulchers, etc.). It features a modular base platform with interchangeable attachments, enabling it to carry out a wide array of tasks across the agricultural cycle, from soil preparation and pruning to spraying, mowing, fertilization, harvesting, and more. The Agilehelper shares this customizable design, but focuses specifically on small- to medium-scale vineyards and plantations.

The in-house model and products have helped the company solidify its presence among autonomous vehicle providers. It has built a dynamic feedback system that combines inputs from direct sales as well as its broad distribution network, focusing on improving product features or commercial strategies. The dual approach allows it to refine both its behind-the-scenes efforts and market presence. Where many companies struggle to balance innovation with practical application, Pek Automotive is offering customized and innovative solutions for real-world challenges.

Structured Leadership in a Disruptive Industry

The robotics and autonomous vehicles space is becoming dynamic with constantly shifting innovations. One of the major challenges this industry faces is finding the right people, especially in a deeply liberalized society. Mikhail highlights that years of excessive social cushioning have created a large segment of individuals who operate with a “Lounger” mindset. In other words, people with high entitlement but low respect for responsibilities. To counter this trend, Pek Automotive has adopted a deliberately structured, almost bureaucratic vertical hierarchy. It is reinforced by precise KPI tracking and performance analytics for every employee.  

Speaking about this hierarchical structure, Mikhail shares a core insight about his leadership – “Never allow a decision to trap the company in a dead end.” Every strategic move needs to be fully reversible or supported by multiple exit routes, in case the initial strategy doesn’t produce the expected outcome. This discipline, a contingent mindset, ensures stability in the company’s long-term trajectory. It also keeps the team resilient and moving, irrespective of the complexities that come when working with cutting-edge technologies.

Leading from the Front

“The shortest distance between point A and B is a straight line. Yet no one ever moves in a perfectly straight line.” – Dr Mikhail Kostkin

In entrepreneurship, people often drift away despite having a great idea or motivation. Mikhail believes it is the leader’s responsibility to keep the journey focused on the end goal. “You should be able to sense when a process is going off trajectory and correct course before the deviation leads to damage,” he says. This principle sits at the core of how the company addresses challenges. Team members are encouraged not just to “Try” but to “Do.” They take on challenges that expand their knowledge base and skill sets, contributing to growth. 

This philosophy also compliments his unconventional stance on mentorship. “A human being is a self-educating entity; we must rely on our own minds and not blindly follow someone else’s guidance,” says Mikhail. Instead of ready-made advice, he values opinions, experiences, and real-world cases that can be analysed and used to take fact-based decisions. From this perspective, the influence of AI becomes significant. It provides variety of cases applicable to any given situation. To Mikhail, this isn’t a shortcut or crutch but a powerful extension of his decision-making that broadens his field of view for self-guiding individuals.

A Team of Curious and Motivated Minds

‘Interest’ and ‘Income’ are the two primary reasons people work for a company. As the leader, Mikhail ensures team members are driven by curiosity. After all, these are the brains behind the never-before-seen technologies. When everyone shares the same motivation and works toward a common goal, they earn what is directly proportional to results. Here, innovation is not only encouraged but also complemented financially. Every problem and initiative that is identified at the development stage is treated as an opportunity worth rewarding. However, the biggest reward is the experience gained from seeing ideas take physical form and have an impact in the real world. 

The result-driven environment provides a deeper insight into Mikhail’s team management. For him, everything begins with the ability to solve a task and achieve the required result. When his team reaches a dead end, he sees it as his role to identify the right solution and carry the process forward. He does this consistently because he understands that business is not a place where fantasies are realized; it is a place where fantasies work to solve customers’ tasks. This purview has a profound impact on the company’s trajectory. A team working in unison produces tailored solutions, better sales, and fuels further innovation.

Success Measured in Market Valuation

Pek Automotive was born from a vision: to support those who do the toughest job in the world with cutting-edge technologies. And the scale of such a mission can be measured only by proof of market validation. To Mikhail, this is the only criterion of success. The valuation of a business captures everything from product demand, innovation, and competitive edge to operational efficiency and the company’s ability to scale.

In just five years, it has reached a valuation that many established players struggle to achieve even over decades. Beyond technology and execution, it throws light on the founders’ experience in developing the R-Wave Technologies for Autonomous Electric Vehicles (AEVs) over a long period, with roots dating back to 1998. The valuation is also a recognition that the company is not just participating in the industry but reshaping it, which positions it to climb even higher.

Shaping the Era of Cost-Effective System Level Robotics

PeK Automotive has an ambitious road ahead of it. However, Mikhail directs our view to an impending conflict. Agriculture will face a growing shortage of manual labor, while Civil Defence Systems will see unprecedented demand. This will reshape global priorities, which aligns precisely with the company’s trajectory. In agriculture, the company’s roadmap points towards expanding into full-scale crop production, which will help with the widening labour gap. In Civil Defence, the company is further scaling every sector it has invested in, including autonomous logistics, autonomous firefighting systems, and advanced demining technologies. 

The next wave of our innovation will come from dramatically reducing the cost of these system-level solutions through AI technologies, computer vision, and innovative materials. 

Despite having such an ambitious vision in hindsight, Dr Mikhail Kostkin has an inspiring message for aspiring customers: “Ask the market and your customers whether what you want to build is truly needed.” A legacy can’t be built by pursuing ideas merely because they seem exciting, but by addressing real problems and solving them better than anyone else. For those who aim to create lasting impact, his leadership is a reminder that innovation gains value only when it meets necessity and is built into one meaningful solution. 

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