Innoviz
The companies agreed to cooperate for developing an autonomous driving platform for LiDAR-only self-driving vehicles. Credit: Richard Ciraulo / Unsplash.

Israel-based Innoviz Technologies and South Korean company Vueron Technology have partnered to develop an autonomous driving platform for LiDAR-only self-driving vehicles.

The partnership will bring together Innoviz’s high-resolution LiDARs and Vueron’s perception software.

Innoviz co-founder and CEO Omer Keilaf said: “We are impressed by Vueron’s high-performance LiDAR perception software and appreciate their unique understanding of the automotive LiDAR market in South Korea.

“Innoviz’s LiDAR and Vueron’s software jointly enable an accurate and reliable LiDAR solution that meets the needs of customers in this region.”

In January, Vueron secured self-driving permits from the South Korean government.

After receiving the permit, the company completed a 414km, fully automated, LiDAR-only drive from Seoul to the southern port city of Busan, at a maximum speed of 100km/h.

The company claimed that the mandated safety driver on board did not take control of the steering wheel at any point during the five-hour drive.

Vueron CEO Joseph Kim said: “We are pleased to partner with Innoviz and use their solid-state LiDAR sensor, InnovizOne, in our autonomous vehicles (AVs).

“We see InnovizOne as the front-runner in LiDAR technology and design and highly recommend it to our peers.

“Both companies are fortunate to have had the same early-stage investor, Naver, and we take this opportunity to congratulate Innoviz for becoming a NASDAQ-traded company last month.”

Kim said that Vueron will use Innoviz LiDAR in their solutions for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), AVs, industrial safety, internet of things (IoT) and security systems.

In March, Innoviz launched an automotive perception platform to fast-track the production of AVs.

InnovizAPP features automotive-grade hardware and software for AVs to identify and classify objects.

Based on Innoviz’s advanced perception software, the platform uses data derived from the company’s LiDAR sensors and combines it with proprietary AI algorithms to analyse the point cloud and estimate the speed of an object.