Perception system maker AEye appoints new CEO, launches new 4Sight sensor family

According to foreign media reports, on October 20, local time, AEye, a manufacturer of perception systems IDAR, announced the appointment of Blair LaCorte as CEO and will also release a new 4Sight sensor series. The company's founder, Luis Dussan, will become the company's president and chief technology officer (CTO), and will continue to work with LaCorte to promote the company's development and focus on accelerating technology and product research and development. AEye is a developer that focuses on providing eye and visual cortex perception systems for semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles.

(Image source: AEye)

4Sight is the only commercially viable long-range, high-performance LiDAR with a functionally safe AI perception system. In addition, 4Sight offers the industry’s only fully integrated HD camera, creating the industry’s first RGB aperture point cloud to improve its classification capabilities. The sensor can support automotive and truck safety systems (ADAS), autonomous driving systems, and industrial and intelligent transportation systems.

Dussan founded AEye in 2013 with a unique perspective on how to efficiently use lidar-enhanced perception systems for autonomous driving systems. Dussan has served as an executive in the aerospace and defense sectors such as NASA, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, and has accumulated extensive experience in robotic vision, artificial intelligence and advanced sensor networks. Influenced by this experience, Dussan believes that the best robotic vision system is a software-defined, active and flexible lidar, rather than the current passive rotating flash or grating lidar. Such a system needs to behave more like the human visual cortex, that is, focusing on the most critical information in the scene when scanning. The key is to understand the difference between information quality and data quantity, and the harmful effects of delays in the information chain.

(Image source: AEye)

To this end, AEye created the iDAR software platform that powers the 4Sight sensor. iDAR stands for "Intelligent Detection and Ranging" and is the core of the company's software-defined smart lidar, which has achieved industry-leading performance levels in terms of detection distance, rate, and resolution. Unlike other lidar alternatives, AEye's software-definable performance allows OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and system integrators to quickly test, optimize, and calibrate a single hardware system so that it can be precisely installed on the vehicle and applied to any unique driving scenario, such as highways, city driving, or severe weather conditions.

AEye’s new CEO, Blair LaCorte, formerly AEye’s president, is a technology, aerospace, and defense executive who has dedicated his career to driving rapid growth and operational excellence in both private and public companies. Prior to joining AEye, LaCorte served as global president of PRG, the world’s largest live event technology and services company, CEO of XOJET, one of the fastest growing aviation companies in history, and operating partner of TPG, a top private equity firm with more than $90 billion in global investments. LaCorte also has extensive experience in public offerings as an investor and operator. Earlier in his career, LaCorte held executive and general management positions at companies such as VerticalNet, Savi Technologies/Networks, Autodesk, and Sun Microsystems. LaCorte graduated cum laude from the University of Maine and received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University.

At the same time, AEye’s advisory board appointed four new executives – Jon Lauckner, Dr. Bernd Gottschalk, Frank Petznick and Keith Dierkx.

Jon Lauckner was the Chief Technology Officer of General Motors and GM Ventures. He has extensive experience in integrating and commercializing automotive technology and has worked at GM for more than 40 years.

Dr. Bernd Gottschalk has extensive experience in commercial vehicles and truck transportation. He was a member of the Executive Board of Daimler AG, responsible for the global commercial vehicle business unit. In addition, Dr. Gottschalk has served as President of Mercedes-Benz Brazil, Chairman of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), a member of the board of directors of Schaeffler Group, Plastic Omnium Group, Neust Automotive Components GmbH, Delphi and Voith, and is the founder and managing partner of the automotive consulting firm AutoValue and a senior advisor to the venture capital firm Vektor Partners.

Frank Petznick has many years of experience in the development and deployment of innovative technologies in the fields of electronics, infotainment and sensor technology. He is currently the Executive Vice President of Continental ’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Division. Prior to joining Continental, Petznick was the Executive Vice President of Hella Group’s Autonomous Driving Division and a member of the Executive Board of Hella Electronics. During his tenure at Hella, Petznick also held senior management positions in Hella’s regional and global businesses.

Keith Dierkx was the global business leader for IBM's freight, logistics and rail divisions, and was also responsible for leading IMB's Global Rail Innovation Center in Beijing, China, which was established to provide guidance in China's plan to allocate hundreds of billions of dollars to build high-speed rail lines across the country. Prior to joining IBM, Dierkx was the senior vice president of Embarcadero Systems (formerly Marine Terminal and now Ports America's information technology department), responsible for leading the transformation of terminal business, optimizing and automating processes by leveraging digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, sensors, vision systems and geospatial technologies. At the same time, Dierkx was also the co-founder of Savi Networks.

AEye's global patent portfolio has continued to expand in recent months, with 17 new patents added, bringing its total to 32, with an additional 18 patents in process. Due to its focus on quality, the company licenses 2.5 times more information per patent to other companies compared to other lidar companies. Such patents, along with a unique biomimicry-inspired, software-driven system architecture, form the three core functional elements of AEye.

1. Flexible modular hardware architecture that enables Tier 2 automakers to access plug-and-play innovative technologies;

2. All hardware components are software definable and can be effectively integrated with real-time sensor data to achieve higher quality and faster creation of actionable information;

3. Integrated edge intelligence and flexible AI technologies can provide more accurate information for perception systems and allow partners to run existing algorithms seamlessly.

These technological advances are made possible by AEye’s biomimetic visual perception technology, which essentially makes vehicles’ vision and perception more like humans, allowing them to better assess potential driving hazards and adapt to changing conditions.