James Dyson

Founder and Chairman, Dyson Ltd

Exclusive Interview: James Dyson on Failure, Cars, Innovation, and AI

📅 Jul 01, 2026 Business Traveller 9 MIN 209 VIEWS 32 SEGMENTS · 4 SPEAKERS

In this exclusive conversation with Sir James Dyson, we explore the mindset, failures, and engineering breakthroughs that have shaped one of the world's most innovative companies. From the lessons learned through thousands of failed prototypes to Dyson's ambitious electric car project, Sir James shares insights into invention, risk-taking, and the future of technology. We also visit Dyson's cutting-edge facilities and meet the engineers driving innovation across beauty, robotics, AI, manufacturing, and agriculture. Featuring: • Why failure is essential to innovation • The story behind the Dy...

What James Dyson said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

James Dyson discussed his most significant failures, including the electric car project and the washing machine, which he still uses at home 28 years later. He highlighted the car's 600-mile range and its shutdown in 2019 for commercial reasons. He mentioned circular farming with strawberries using anaerobic digesters and waste heat. On AI, he said it can't be creative, emphasizing the role of engineers. He explained the move to Singapore due to Asia's fast-growing market and manufacturing base. He discussed the challenges of making a travel hairdryer due to voltage differences. He declined to reveal what people are overlooking today, saying it would give something away.

Key takeaways

The electric car project was shut down in 2019 for commercial reasons, not engineering issues.
The car was designed to have a 600-mile range, superior to anything on the market at the time.
AI cannot be creative, so the role of engineers and Dyson graduates is crucial.
The washing machine failed commercially but Dyson still uses it at home 28 years later.

Numbers and commitments

Figure	What it refers to	Type	At
600 mile	range of the electric car project	metric	1:44
2019	year the electric car project was shut down	timeline	1:44
28 years	time Dyson has used the washing machine at home	metric	1:14
1500 watts, 1800 watts	power of a hairdryer	metric	6:59
100V	voltage in Japan for hairdryers	metric	6:59
240V	voltage in the UK for hairdryers	metric	6:59

Chapters

0:00Most important failure
1:42Electric car project
2:26Overlooked innovations
3:35AI and creativity
4:06Dyson University
4:49Singapore headquarters
5:28Lessons from Asia
6:49Travel hairdryer challenges
8:35Starting Dyson again

Questions asked in this interview

0:00I know you enjoy talking about failure, what was the most important failure?
0:34What was the most important failure?
1:12Do you still use it at home?
1:21And is it like a constant reminder standing in your office?
1:42So can you tell me something about the car?
2:26If invention was something about noticing what other people overlook, what are we collectively overlooking and ignoring today?
3:35Do you think AI will accelerate innovation, or rather accelerate imitation?
5:28What kind of lessons have you learned from Asia which take you back to the UK and Europe, for example?
6:49Why would the travel hairdryer need serious reinvention?
8:35If you were to start Dyson today again from scratch, what would you do differently?

Allegra Isert 0:00 ↗

I know you enjoy talking about failure, what was the most important failure?

James Dyson 0:04 ↗

The washing machine was even sadder for me.

Allegra Isert 0:06 ↗

Oh, well, now I can't tell you that because that would be giving something away.

Hi, I'm Allegra Isert and I'm here for Business Traveller at Dyson Campus, taking an exclusive look behind the scenes of all the innovations from home to travel. I'll be having an exclusive chat with James Dyson, the founder of the company, as well as meet his talented staff and students who work and learn at the campus.

I know you enjoy talking about failure and it's kind of part of your business. What was the most important failure?

James Dyson 0:42 ↗

Well, in a way, the car, but the washing machine was actually even sadder for me because it is a very good washing machine, we were making it, it's just that it was uneconomical to make it. We made it wash better, we put a big door on, which everybody is now copying, so you get big duvets in and things like that. And we did away with that awful rubber seal that they have. So I'm very proud of what we did and it should have been a commercial success.

Allegra Isert 1:12 ↗

Do you still use it at home?

James Dyson 1:14 ↗

Yes, I am still using it, we did it 28 years ago and I'm still using it at home.

Allegra Isert 1:21 ↗

And is it like a constant reminder standing in your office?

James Dyson 1:24 ↗

I'm afraid it is, yes. As engineers, we're told, don't be afraid to fail. So we're constantly sort of making things, trying them out and, you know, so many of my projects that I've worked on haven't gone anywhere. But that's part of the fun and I think out of that, that's where the really good ideas come.

Allegra Isert 1:42 ↗

So can you tell me something about the car?

James Dyson 1:44 ↗

This is a clay model of our electric car project. So it was started in 2015 with this really tiny, secretive team, and then it evolved over the next few years into this, the car that you can see here. The key thing about it was about the range, so it was going to have a 600 mile range, so far superior to anything on the market at the time. The project was shut down in 2019 due to commercial reasons. Nothing to do with the engineering behind it, but it's still a really nice project that we reference. Like every element of this car was designed, and I think it shows the ambition that we have as engineers here at Dyson. We're really not afraid to kind of go into new categories and try things out.

Allegra Isert 2:26 ↗

If invention was something about noticing what other people overlook, what are we collectively overlooking and ignoring today?

James Dyson 2:35 ↗

Oh, well, now I can't tell you that because that would be giving something away, but I think farming is one of them, making farming efficient. And we've had great fun doing strawberries, which are produced with an anaerobic digester. So we grow crops, rot them down, create gas, create electricity through generators, a lot of which is waste heat. And we're using that waste heat to heat huge glasshouses. So the heat is free and the electricity we use is free, not only free, but green. And then we put green electricity into the grid, and also with the waste digester, it goes back on the land as fertilizer. So it's circular farming. And in the process, costing nothing in terms of energy, we produce the most delicious strawberries. I keep trying to get you to try one, but we'll do that at the end of the interview. So all year round, so you don't have to import strawberries or fly them in or anything like that, we can produce them all year round.

Allegra Isert 3:35 ↗

Considering these developments in farming, I was curious which other new technologies will affect the future of engineering at Dyson. Do you think AI will accelerate innovation, or rather accelerate imitation?

James Dyson 3:50 ↗

A bit of both, probably, is the answer to that. I've always thought that AI can't be that creative, so I think the role of the engineer and the Dyson graduates is really important, because they can bring the kind of creativity that AI can't.

15 more exchanges in this transcript

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX

APA

Dyson, J. (2026, July 1). Exclusive Interview: James Dyson on Failure, Cars, Innovation, and AI [Interview transcript]. Business Traveller. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1059281/

MLA

James Dyson. "Exclusive Interview: James Dyson on Failure, Cars, Innovation, and AI." Business Traveller, 1 Jul. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1059281/.

BibTeX

@misc{dyson2026_1059281,
  author       = {James Dyson},
  title        = {Exclusive Interview: James Dyson on Failure, Cars, Innovation, and AI},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Business Traveller. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {jul},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1059281/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}

▶

Key Quotes (2)

“The washing machine was actually even sadder for me because it is a very good washing machine, we were making it, it's just that it was uneconomical to make it. We made it wash better, we put a big door on, which everybody is now copying. So you get big duvets in and things like that. And we did away with that awful rubber seal that they have. So I'm very proud of what we did and it should have be”

▶ 0:47

“Asia is a fast growing market, if not the fastest growing market, so it is very important for us to be there. And most of the world's manufacturing is there, and we are a manufacturer. So you can't really do that, it would be arrogant to think we could do that from here. Arrogant to think we could even really design for the Asian market from here.”

▶ 4:52 POLICY

Mentioned in this interview

Singapore: Dyson moved headquarters there due to Asia's fast-growing market and manufacturing base.

Japan: Mentioned as having 100V voltage, affecting hairdryer design.

UK: Mentioned as having 240V voltage, affecting hairdryer design.

Earlier, on the same topics

“failure is much more exciting than success because why did it fail you know what wait a minute why did it fail why doesn't it work you know what do I have to do to make it work and you get caught up in it and it becomes okay you look slightly silly as sort of inventor getting obsessed with some stup”

failure · Dec 19, 2024 at 21:41 →

“Suddenly, everybody was gonna make electric cars and nobody was making any money out of them, they're making huge losses out of them because it's an expensive thing to develop. And I could see that it was just too risky. And we're a private company, a relatively small private company, and I haven't ”

electric car · May 06, 2025 at 5:03 →

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About James Dyson

James Dyson launched the Dyson CameraJet™, an electric toothbrush with an integrated flosser and camera, at an event in Paris. He stated that the device is the first toothbrush with a camera and the ability to find spaces between teeth and floss while brushing. Dyson described the product as addressing issues such as the average 45 seconds people spend brushing, which he said is below the two-minute guideline, and the use of traditional flossing methods, which he characterized as archaic. He also cited research linking poor oral health to conditions like heart disease and Alzheimer's, and noted that over 3.7 billion people suffer from oral disease. The launch included details on the device's features, such as a 100k pixel macro lens camera, Gap Optical Targeting™, and a conical jet, which Dyson said was developed using a proxy plaque created with the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Singapore. In a separate podcast appearance with Georgie Ainslie, Dyson discussed his investment in Bath Rugby, saying he had no hesitation when offered the opportunity and that his goal is to help secure the club's long-term future, including a potential new city-centre stadium. He also reflected on failure, stating that "a lifetime of failure" is necessary before achieving success, and expressed a view that being satisfied is undesirable, adding that striving to succeed is what makes one happy.

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