Robotic perception pioneer AEye, the developer of iDAR (Intelligent Detection and Ranging), announced the second close of its Series B financing, bringing the company’s total funding to more than $60 million. AEye Series B included global automotive OEM, Tier 1 and Tier 2 strategic investors Hella Ventures, SUBARU-SBI Innovation Fund, LG Electronics, and SK Hynix.

AEye previously announced that the round was led by Taiwania Capital along with existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Intel Capital, Airbus Ventures, R7 Partners, and an undisclosed OEM.

Series B will be used to scale AEye’s operations to meet global demand for its artificial perception systems for both ADAS and Mobility solutions.

AEye puts intelligence at the sensor layer and makes it extensible and controllable via a software-driven architecture. AEye’s iDAR is the first and only perception system that can easily scale from modular ADAS solutions to complete 360-degree vision for mobility applications, the company says. iDAR physically fuses the industry’s only 1550nm, solid-state, agile LiDAR with a low-light HD camera to create a new data type the company calls Dynamic Vixels.

This real-time integration occurs in the iDAR sensor, rather than post-fusing separate camera and LiDAR data after the scan. By capturing both geometric and true color (x,y,z and r,g,b) data, Dynamic Vixels mimic the data structure of the human visual cortex, capturing better data for superior performance and accuracy.

The AEye investment aligns perfectly with SUBARU’s aim to invest in leading-edge technology to advance our assisted and autonomous driving efforts. AEye is a front-runner in developing accurate, low-latency, low cost perception systems, and we anticipate great synergy in working with AEye towards safe, reliable vehicle autonomy.

—Itaru Ueda, Manager of SUBARU-SBI Innovation Fund

Built on a robust and rapidly-growing patent portfolio, AEye’s iDAR recently set a new benchmark for solid state LiDAR range. In performance tests validated by VSI Labs, iDAR acquired and tracked targets at more than 1000 meters and at scan rates exceeding 100 Hz—a major breakthrough in speed and long-range threat detection.