Oculii, which has developed artificial intelligence software for for radar perception, this week said it had raised $55 million in Series B funding.
The Dayton, Ohio-based company said its AI-powered Virtual Aperture Imaging platform dynamically sends out an adaptive, phase-modulated waveform that changes in real time with the environment. It then encodes that data over time, increasing the resolution of any radar hardware by up to 100X, claimed Oculii.
“Our vision is to make radar a vital component of any autonomy solution, leveraging its inherent strengths with unparalleled resolution, and the market is responding,” stated Steven Hong, co-founder and CEO of Oculii. “We are working with 14 of the Top 20 Tier 1/Tier 2 suppliers and have commercial development contracts with the largest OEM and AV [autonomous vehicle] companies in North America, Europe, and Asia.”
“This new round of financing will accelerate Oculii’s growth as the leading AI software radar solution on the market,” he added. “Oculii will continue to execute on commercial opportunities with automotive, robotic, and AV companies while scaling its teams and customer base globally.”
Oculii solves a hardware problem with software
Autonomous vehicles require high-performance, all-weather, low-cost, and scalable sensors, according to Oculii. The company claimed that its AI software enables perception that is higher resolution, longer range, more accurate, and less expensive than conventional systems, increasing safety and reliability.
Radar already powers advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) such as emergency braking, blindspot detection, and parking-assist features, Oculii said. However, radar has limited resolution, and adding more antennas can significantly increase cost, size, and power consumption.
Oculii said the improved resolution from its Virtual Aperture Imaging (VAI) software can unlock the potential of low-cost, mass-produced, market-proven commercial radars. It can provide all-weather perception with less than 1° joint horizontal and elevation spatial resolution up to 350 meters around a full 360° field of view.
The new funding comes soon after Oculii’s launch of the EAGLE and FALCON high-resolution radar sensors. The two products use VAI to offer unparalleled resolution and performance for autonomous systems and are already being used in commercial deployments.
Virtual Aperture Imaging serves both current ADAS and future AVs
Oculii, which has offices in Silicon Valley and Beijing, has raised a total of more than $75 million to date. Catapult Ventures and Conductive Ventures co-led its Series B round, with participation from Taiwania Capital, Susquehanna Investment Group (SIG), HELLA Ventures, PHI-Zoyi Capital, R7 Partners, VectoIQ, ACVC Partners, Mesh Ventures, SV Tech Ventures, Schox Ventures, and Signature Bank.
“Over the past 20 years, autonomous systems have been waiting for high-resolution, weather-resilient, and low-cost sensors to help enable a new level of automation,” said Darren Liccardo, managing director of Catapult Ventures and former director of Autopilot at Tesla and vice president of engineering at DJI. “Finally, the industry has a scalable solution, as Oculii’s Virtual Aperture Imaging technology delivers on these metrics for both near-term ADAS features and longer-term self-driving vehicles.”
Catapult Ventures invests in automation, robotics, AI, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Founded by Rouz Jazayeri and Darren Liccardo, the team has over three decades of operational experience.
“Dr. Lang Hong and his world-class team have developed an affordable software solution that brings lidar resolution into the radar sensor,” said Paul Yeh, managing director of Conductive Ventures. “Coming from the automotive industry, I saw firsthand the complexities of adopting new technologies.”
“Because the existing automotive supply chain is so well-established, any changes to the existing structure will add time to the deployment schedule,” Yeh added. “When it comes to Oculii’s VAI software, it leverages existing, market-proven radar hardware without adding steps to the supply chain. This allows Oculii to deploy its technology much faster than that of other sensors such as lidars.”
Conductive Ventures invests in expansion-stage companies with a focus on software, hardware, and tech-enabled services. Its team focuses on post-product companies with early customer success.
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