The company’s past investors include Deutsche Capital, China Venture Capital, China Unicom and BAIC.
It is informed that smart driving system supplier CalmCar announced the completion of a billion-yuan A2 round of financing, including SAIC Investment, SAIC California Venture Capital, Beijing Vehicle Network Industry Development Fund (Qianfang Technology) Co-management with the joint capital of Jinshajiang). This financing is mainly used for mass production of surround sensing systems that support L2+ intelligent driving functions, and deep cooperation with OEMs and Tier1 suppliers.
CalmCar told, After introducing SAIC’s strategic investment, they will fully connect with SAIC’s various core departments and quickly advance CalmCar’s products from the experimental verification phase to the mass production phase To achieve an important transition from “joint development” to “product delivery.” At the same time, Qianfang Technology, as another strategic investor in this round, has roadside sensing services and rich road-to-road application scenarios, and will jointly promote smart driving with CalmCar.
Multi-directional Fusion Surround Sensing supports L4 Autopilot (Source: CalmCar)
CalmCar develops intelligent driving surround sensing system, and optimizes its own deep learning model with machine vision algorithms to mature chips (including NVIDIA, NXP, Xilinx, Texas Instruments, Huawei HiSilicon). In order to form a solution that combines vision with millimeter wave radar, laser radar, and ultrasonic radar, and simultaneously in the field of decision making and control.
In addition, CalmCar offers active-aware engineering application solutions across multiple platforms, and has been working with a number of vendors to produce automated driving controllers. According to the company, the surround sensing technology jointly developed by them and OEMs has been applied to automatic driving in port areas and urban areas. The automatic parking and valet parking system jointly developed with Tier1 is also used in several mass production projects.
CalmCar was awarded the tens of millions of angel round financing by DF Capital in December 2016, and the tens of millions of Pre-A rounds of the China-China Venture Capital and China Unicom in 2018. investmentAnd the 10,000 million A1 round of strategic investment by BAIC.
Vision-based automatic parking and valet parking system (Source: CalmCar)
For this investment, SAIC Investment said: “Under the wave of the new four, L2+ intelligent driving is one of the most demanding and most ground-breaking business scenarios. Realizing ADAS, technology is derived from emerging AI players and traditions. The advantages of the respective companies in the car industry depend on the core links of the industry chain, and they have deep interaction and cooperation. In the core technology field of visual perception, Scorpio has a cross-platform surround sensing solution. The program and the rapid engineering capability can be combined with Tier1 and OEM to create a mass-produced product with comprehensive technological advancement and cost competitiveness. SAIC is looking forward to further expanding synergy with Tianyi Weishi to create a coordinated ecosystem for all industry shareholders. The value of the circle continues to generate chemical reactions with the head companies in the industry.”
Zhang Tingrui, director of Beijing Qianfang Technology Investment, said that the intelligentization and networking of automobiles is making a huge change in the traditional automobile industry. The intelligentization is mainly embodied in bicycle intelligent technology, especially the technology of the sensing end, and the visual sensor is an important part of the sensing end; the networking is mainly reflected in the interconnection between the four elements of the road, especially the car. The synergy with the road has become an important means to achieve redundant security and reduce the cost of bicycle configuration.
“We are optimistic about Tianweiwei. On the one hand, Scorpio has good practical ability in the field of intelligence, including the team’s deep understanding of the automotive industry, the craftsmanship of product development, and the needs of customers. Guided technology research and development direction, as well as productization and landing capabilities; on the other hand, Tianzhu can have strong synergy with Qianfang Technology in the field of vehicle and road coordination. In the future, both parties will explore and land in the field of intelligent transportation. More application scenarios,” Zhang Tingrui said.
(cover image from pexels.com)