In autonomous and self-driving vehicles news are Applied Intuition, TIER IV, Hyundai and eSync Alliance.
Applied Intuition New Off-Road Autonomy Stack
Applied Intuition, a vehicle software supplier for automotive, trucking, construction, mining, agriculture and defense, announced its new off-road autonomy stack solution that can navigate complex unstructured terrain safely.
Off-road autonomy is highly complex. The dynamic and inconsistent nature of off-road terrain can impact basic autonomous vehicle (AV) system functions like obstacle detection and avoidance, creating challenges for safe and efficient off-road navigation. Off-road environments also pose safety risks and put a high cognitive load on operators. Autonomy stacks can address reductions in manpower while contributing to operational efficiency and increased productivity across various industries. However, they require complex infrastructure and can be costly and challenging to develop and maintain in-house.
To help organizations navigate these challenges, Applied Intuition provides a robust off-road autonomy stack that can run on production hardware and navigate in real environments. The technology has been designed by a team of experts who understand both the latest machine learning (ML) techniques and the constraints of rugged environments. The stack consists of separately factored modules that can be individually integrated into a customer’s robotics system.
“As more industries look to adopt AV technology, we want our software to be at the forefront of off-road autonomy,” said Peter Ludwig, co-founder and CTO of Applied Intuition. “Our off-road stack combines the latest AI and ML advances with traditional safety and systems expertise to deliver state-of-the-art performance in the most challenging environments. We’re confident our offering will deliver strong value to our customers.”
Applied Intuition’s newest offering includes software capabilities such as:
- Simultaneous localization and mapping: Enables a vehicle to understand rough, unstructured, and unmapped environments without requiring a consistent or accurate GPS signal.
- Perception and object tracking: Provides a high-fidelity holistic view of surrounding environments in real time, including semantic understanding and 3D geometric modeling, for both static terrain and dynamic objects.
- Sensor fusion and calibration: Collects data across multiple modalities using both traditional geometric and cutting-edge ML methods.
- Planning and controls: Navigates the vehicle along a safe and efficient path that avoids rollover, entanglement, and collision using an approach that is proven across multiple vehicle types and models.
Applied Intuition’s off-road stack works with the company’s base software platform, while supporting third-party integrations, secure environment testing and data management. Organizations can also use the off-road autonomy stack in conjunction with Applied Intuition’s definitive ADAS/AD toolchain for simulation-driven development. To learn more about the off-road autonomy stack go to appliedintuition.com/off-road-autonomy-stack.
TIER IV Series B Funding
TIER IV, a pioneer in open-source software for autonomous driving systems, proudly announces the successful extension of its Series B funding round, securing an additional US$54 million (¥8.5 billion). This brings the total Series B funding to US$132 million (¥20.7 billion) and the company’s overall funding to US$243 million (¥38.1 billion).
During the Series A round, TIER IV expanded beyond developing the open-source software Autoware* to commercialize comprehensive software platforms that encompass communication, insurance, and risk management features for autonomous driving systems. The Series B round has further enhanced our software development capabilities, particularly in advocating the concept of reference designs. TIER IV was also selected for the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s (NEDO) Green Innovation Fund Project, participating in a substantial US$162 million (¥25.4 billion) R&D initiative aimed at introducing scalability to autonomous driving systems.
Purpose of the funding
The latest funds are earmarked for launching the production of Level 4 autonomous driving systems, leveraging TIER IV’s advanced software platforms and reference designs. The funds will also boost our efforts to develop safety assessment methods that tightly integrate processes and tools.
TIER IV has been selected for a NEDO program to support tech startups, with a focus on advancing electrification modules applicable to various vehicle models, which tackles grand challenges for hardware disparity, software quality, and system dependability from fiscal 2023 to 2025. Furthermore, we have been selected for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Phase 3 funding, underscoring our commitment to establishing a robust Level 4 certification framework from fiscal 2024 to 2027.
These strategic initiatives align with the Japanese government’s objective to deploy Level 4 autonomous driving systems in 50 locations by 2025 and over 100 by 2027, which aims to improve mobility services nationwide.
Key business areas
From Series A to Series B, TIER IV has significantly advanced its software platforms, with an emphasis on vehicle models and safety assessment methods for Level 4 autonomous driving systems. In collaboration with global partners, we are ready for full-scale commercialization, both in Japan and worldwide. Our main applications include mobility services such as route buses and urban taxis, as well as logistics services encompassing intra-factory transportation and highway trucks, all within a Level 4 regulatory framework.
Future outlook
TIER IV is set to further develop new vehicle models and open safety assessment methods, spearheading the deployment of enhanced mobility and logistics services powered by Level 4 autonomous driving systems. Building on our current reference designs for route buses and urban taxis, we plan to create a new reference design for privately-owned passenger vehicles, which introduces state-of-the-art technologies to the automotive industry. Going forward, TIER IV will focus on developing electric and electronic architectures (EEA) optimized for software-defined vehicles (SDV), along with a new generative world model tailored for end-to-end autonomy.
TIER IV remains committed to harnessing its expertise in software development, vehicle manufacturing, and safety assessment to foster the deployment of Level 4 autonomous driving systems across various environments.
*Autoware is a registered trademark of The Autoware Foundation.
About TIER IV
TIER IV, a pioneer in open-source software and autonomous driving technology, and Suzuki, one of Japan’s leading car and motorcycle manufacturers, have entered into a capital and business alliance aimed at accelerating the development and commercialization of autonomous driving technology to enhance regional mobility solutions.
By combining TIER IV’s scalable software platforms with Suzuki’s extensive expertise in manufacturing, rooted in its ethos of “Smaller, Fewer, Lighter, Shorter, and Beauty,” the partnership aims to create innovative mobility services enabled by autonomous driving technology. These services are intended to address the increasing need for more accessible and efficient regional mobility solutions.
TIER IV takes the initiative of spearheading open-source software, Autoware*, to foster the development of autonomous driving technology across the industry. Leveraging Autoware, TIER IV also provides scalable software platforms and a range of solutions with a global network of partners, fueling the rollout of intelligent vehicles that will benefit society as a whole.
Suzuki, faithful to its motto, aims to “Develop products of superior value by focusing on the customer.” This founding tenet drives Suzuki’s efforts to integrate into the fabric of everyday life as an infrastructure-oriented company. In Hamamatsu City, Suzuki is pioneering smart mobility services using autonomous driving technology, specifically targeting regions where traditional public transportation services are diminishing.
Together, TIER IV and Suzuki are committed to accelerating the development of critical autonomous driving technology, aiming to transform regional mobility solutions that cater to the needs of individuals and wider society.
*Autoware is a registered trademark of the Autoware Foundation.
Hyundai DAL-e Delivery
Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) announced today the deployment of Hyundai Motor and Kia’s ‘DAL-e Delivery’ robot and Hyundai WIA’s ‘Parking Robot’ at Factorial Seongsu, providing innovative services at the robot-friendly office building in Seoul. The Group also released a video of its deployed robots, which can be seen here.
At IGIS Asset Management’s Factorial Seongsu, occupants can enjoy beverage delivery from the DAL-e Delivery robot and parking services from the Parking Robot, both utilizing the Group’s latest technologies.
“With DAL-e’s full-fledged delivery service, we aim to make Factorial Seongsu the first building to apply our Robot Total Solution,” said Dong Jin Hyun, Vice President and Head of Robotics LAB at Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation. “We plan to expand our robotics services to more buildings, making these technological enhancements a major criterion for space innovation.”
The Group has proposed a ‘Robot Total Solution’ development plan, which involves using various robots and facial recognition systems in smart buildings, starting with Factorial Seongsu. It also intends to develop a ‘multi-integrated control system’ for managing multiple delivery robots within the Robot Total Solution.
eSync Alliance Debuts dynamic OTA demonstrator at AutoTech: Detroit
Earlier this year, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, eSync Alliance demonstrated how eSync can be used to deploy over-the-air (OTA) updates on containerized software. The demonstration, in collaboration with the Autoware Foundation and SOAFEE, clearly showed how OTA can supercharge the rate of development for autonomous driving software in both virtual vehicles and a lab environment.
Last week, at AutoTech: Detroit, eSync Alliance took the joint demonstration to its next phase. For the first time ever, they showed eSync facilitating OTA updates to containerized software on a real, working autonomous vehicle. The PIXKit vehicle from Pix Moving performed public displays of driving demonstrations over a course at the AutoTech event parking lot. Initially, the vehicle autonomously drove a road course, stopping safely but being unable to proceed when blocked by an obstacle in its lane. After an OTA installation of a container with an updated planning module, the vehicle then proceeded to drive the course a second time, successfully navigating around the obstacle and completing the course.
This demonstration is the clearest example yet of how standardized, reliable automotive OTA can be used to accelerate the development of autonomous and software-defined vehicles. The result of a partnership between the eSync Alliance, the Autoware Foundation and SOAFEE, it is also testament to the power of collaboration in the development of automotive OTA, and shows the ability of eSync’s platform to enable collaboration.
Talking about the demonstration, Mike Gardner, Executive Director of the eSync Alliance, said: “Our activity at AutoTech: Detroit is a clear and natural next step to showcase the advantages of the eSync platform and its capacity to drive change in the automotive sector as a whole. Not only does this demonstration bring the capabilities of eSync into sharp focus, it also proves the point that collaboration in this space leads to exciting results.”