Automotive Vision Sensor Startup TriEYE Raises $17 Million From Intel Capital

resource from: Reuters, Venturebeat   

Israeli-based automotive sensor startup TriEYE Technologies LTD announced a $17 million investment from Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of chip-maker Intel. TriEYE is developing Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) imaging solutions for autonomous vehicles and other applications.

The company's sensors are designed to assist autonomous vehicles with improved perception, offering better visibility in limited situations such as darkness, fog, or other inclimate weather.

The company's feature product is the TriEYE SWIR camera. It's designed to provide driver-assistance systems and autonomous vehicles enhanced vision through the use of a custom-built semiconductor.

Tri-EYE's Raven SWIR camera incorporates a low-cost, but highly efficient CMOS-based image sensor, which enables short wave infrared capabilities. The TriEye Raven enables seamless integration with existing advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicle (AV) architecture and can use existing computer vision algorithms.

The Raven offers a resolution of 1280x960 at 30 frames per second.

TriEye said its technology reduces the cost by a factor of 1,000 compared with current indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) technology.

The TriEye Raven SWIR camera

In an interview with VentureBeat, TriEye co-founder and Chief Executive Avi Bakal said that low visibility conditions "are the times when most accidents happen" adding that "they don't happen when you have clear blue skies."

Bakal believes that improving perception in poor conditions is a big challenge for developers of autonomous vehicles and reducing the costs and increasing effectiveness will assist in bringing autonomous capability to more vehicles and at scale.

"As the automotive industry transitions to autonomous driving, demand for sensor technologies is expected to grow rapidly," said Intel Capital Israel's Managing Director Yair Shoham. "TriEye technology has the potential to enhance traditional camera functionalities by increasing performance in low-visibility conditions in a way that complements vision-based camera sensor technologies."

The latest funding from Intel Capital brings TriEye's total investments to $20 million. Other investors include Grove Ventures, which led a $3 million seed round in Nov 2017, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. and billionaire co-founder Marius Nacht.

The company said that it would use the new funding for ongoing product development as well as expanding relationships with automotive partners.

resource from: Reuters, Venturebeat

FutureCar Staff