This self-driving startup makes Tesla and Google hate it

Source: Content from TechWeb ,Thanks.

On May 30, according to foreign media reports, autonomous driving technology has become a field that many technology companies are competing for. In addition to a number of traditional car manufacturers, large technology companies such as Google, Uber, and Tesla have become the subject of media tracking and reporting. However, Aurora Innovation, an autonomous driving startup that was only established in January this year, has been targeted by foreign media. A closer look reveals that its background is unusual.

Aurora Innovation is using the Audi Q7 to collect data

Aurora Innovation is led by Chris Urmson, former head of Google's driverless car team, and Sterling Anderson, former head of Tesla's Autopilot project, and Drew Bagnell, former head of Uber's self-driving car project, serves as chief technology officer. Each of the founders can be described as a star engineer and leader in this field.

Aurora Innovation plans to develop the hardware, software and necessary data services related to driverless cars and build an autonomous driving platform, somewhat similar to Uber and Google's self-driving car project Waymo.

In addition, the company will work directly with Tier 1 suppliers to design the best sensors to help build the algorithms needed to serve as the car’s “brain.”

You know, LiDAR is an important sensor technology that helps cars detect objects. The technology has also become the focus of the legal dispute between Uber and Waymo. Once Aurora Innovation designs complex hardware such as LiDAR and ordinary radar, it may put pressure on technology giants.

Currently, Aurora Innovation is still recruiting talents and collecting relevant car data, and is still in the early stages of a startup. Autonomous driving car projects require huge amounts of money, and many startups choose to be acquired by technology giants to provide engineers with cash buffers.

However, Aurora Innovation founder Anderson said the company is not seeking to be acquired by other automakers. He said, "We are not prepared to sell. We intend to enhance the capabilities of the entire industry, and if we are acquired by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), then we will not be able to achieve this goal."

Anderson also said Aurora Innovation plans to work directly with other automakers through non-exclusive partnerships.

Aurora Innovation had been operating in secret until Tesla accused Anderson in a lawsuit of stealing confidential information from the company and poaching people from the company's self-driving car team. However, in April, Tesla withdrew a lawsuit against former executives of the company's self-driving car team.

Aurora Innovation has raised $6.5 million so far through self-financing and smaller rounds of funding, and plans to raise its first large round of funding sometime this year.

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