Automotive supplier Aisin invests in AEye

AEye, a world leader in artificial perception systems and the developer of iDAR, announced a strategic investment from Japanese components and systems manufacturer Aisin through their corporate venture capital fund managed by Pegasus Tech Ventures.

Aisin is ranked the sixth largest Tier 1 OEM parts supplier globally, and a premier developer of information and communications technology and electronics for the automotive market. Aisin's investment paves the way for collaboration and expansion as the companies scale to meet the demands of OEMs deploying ADAS and mobility solutions.

“AEye is a breakthrough automotive technology startup with a world-class management and technical team,” said Anis Uzzaman, General Partner & CEO at Pegasus Tech Ventures. “Their AI-based perception solution, iDAR, is a superior technology, rendering the other LiDAR approaches obsolete and creating what we believe is a new standard for ADAS and autonomous solutions in the Japanese market and beyond.”

“We are delighted that Aisin and Pegasus Tech Ventures have joined as partners and as investors,” said Blair LaCorte, president of AEye. “The addition of Aisin as an investor, makes AEye uniquely positioned as the only LiDAR company to have both multiple OEMs and multiple Tier 1s as investors. This validation from automotive companies that are seeking to deploy solutions in the mobility and ADAS markets is a great honor and responsibility.”

Pegasus Tech Ventures, as the manager of Aisin's corporate venture capital fund, has its global headquarters in Silicon Valley and invests in promising technology companies that align with Aisin's mission to respond swiftly to the increasingly sophisticated and diverse needs of OEM customers with best-in-class products.

AEye's iDAR combines software extensibility, artificial intelligence and smart, agile sensors to deliver intelligent data collection at the sensor level. The company's AE110 product features the industry's only software-definable LiDAR, creating an open platform for perception innovation that lets software engineers optimise data collection to best meet their needs. The AE200 system is designed to address the needs of modular, high-performance sensors, and is optimised for size, weight, power, and cost. Both will be available commercially during the second half of this year.