BY MIKE WHEATLEY I siliconangle
Autobrains, a company that’s developing self-learning artificial intelligence technology for assisted and autonomous driving systems, said today it has closed on a $120 million round of funding.
The Series C round was led by Temasek and saw participation from existing investors Continental and BMW I Ventures, plus new investors Knorr-Bremse AG and VinFast.
Autobrains, which is officially known as Cartica Ltd., has built a self-learning AI system for autonomous cars that it says operates in a fundamentally different way from traditional deep learning algorithms. The company explained that its self-learning AI is based on multidisciplinary research and development and does not require brute-force data and labeling techniques to be able to learn to perform tasks. Rather, its system maps real-world data to compressed signatures, allowing it to identify concepts and scenarios for optimal decision making, the company said.
Autobrains says this “avant-garde approach” enables its AI to learn just like the human brain does, via neural networks. That enables cars powered by its AI to learn, collaborate and interact with the real world with no supervision, using only the data and scenarios from the car’s surroundings to enable decision-making just like the human brain, in real time.
VinFast Deputy Chief Executive Thuy Linh Pham said he invested in Autobrains because its technology promises to bridge the gap to fully autonomous driving.
“Autobrains captured our attention by applying unsupervised AI software, as opposed to traditional software that is based on manually labeled data, to make self-driving vehicles adaptive to unprecedented behaviors in real time,” Pham said. “We expect that Autobrains will actualize this ambitious goal into a reality in the near future.”
Another advantage of Autobrain’s platform is that, because it doesn’t rely so much on labeled data, it uses aabout 10 times less computing power than other systems. It means it can be produced at a much lower cost than other deep learning-based assisted and autonomous driving systems, the company said.
Autobrains said it will use the funding from today’s round to refine its unsupervised AI learning capabilities and expand into new domains, including the truck industry. It also plans to expand its offices in Asia, Europe and the U.S.
“Our newest product offers unparalleled features compared to any other technology on the market, functioning with a higher degree of accuracy and capability to predict even the most challenging scenarios like school zones, construction sites, even off-roading,” said Autobrains CEO Igal Rachelgauz. “Our mission is to become the market leader in providing self-driving solutions that are safer, more affordable with superior performance in edge cases.”
Image: Autobrains
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