Autonomous vehicles rely on multiple sensors to detect objects and the world around them. The conventional approach is to work with cameras and lidar. However, some tech companies and startups have created advanced high-resolution radar technology for autonomous vehicles, also known as 4D imaging radar.
Among them is a South Korea-based startup called bitsensing. The startup says its 4D imaging radar isn’t just for autonomous driving, but can also be applied to smart cities and digital healthcare, and has closed a $25 million Series B round for its high-resolution radar technology.
Bitsensing was founded in 2018 by Jae-Eun Lee, CEO of bitsensing, a former senior research engineer who led South Korea’s first 77GHz mid-range advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) for vehicles at Mando Corporation, a Korean Tier 1 supplier 1.
Lee was inspired in 2015 after witnessing a tragic road accident on the Incheon Yeongjong Bridge in Korea due to dense fog and poor visibility. This turning point helped him realize how critical the adoption of radar technology could be to prevent such accidents, and he decided to focus on accelerating its commercialization by starting bitsensing.
“Traditional approaches, especially in the automotive sector, have often focused on cameras and lidar systems. However, these systems are limited by environmental conditions such as poor lighting, fog or rain, which is necessary for mobility systems,” said Lee, adding that the limitations can lead to reduced accuracy and reliability in locating objects and in ensuring safety.
When asked if 4D imaging technology could replace lidar in the near future, Lee told me that the current performance of imaging radar cannot yet match the extremely high resolution of today’s lidar systems, but it has significant potential. This means that as imaging radar technology continues to evolve, it is expected to reach a point where it can replace lidar, likely at a faster rate than the development of lidar itself.
At CES 2023, Amnon Shashua, CEO of Mobileye, an Israel-based self-driving company, said in his keynote that Mobileye, which also developed its own 4D radar, it only wants to develop 4D imaging radars in addition to forward lidar by 2025. Shashua’s comment caught the attention of people in the industry. According a report from Frost & Sullivanmost OEMs will integrate 4D imaging radars into their ADAS/AD sensor suite along with cameras, lidar and other perception and imaging radars.
Bitsensing is not the only company developing 4D imaging radars. California-based Altos Radar and Tel Aviv-Dallas-based Arbe Robotics have also built high-resolution radars for self-driving cars to sense objects around them. Lee also mentioned Oculii and Zendar as fellow startups in the industry.
When asked what makes it so different from its competitors, the high-resolution 4D imaging radar provides a surround detection solution for self-driving vehicle systems with a range coverage of over 300 meters and a 50% advance in detection range compared to conventional radars.
Additionally, the company claims that the Traffic Information Monitoring Sensor (TIMOS) is the first sensor to integrate a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence computing device into an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) solution.
For example, the 24 GHz AI traffic radar device is powered by Nvidia Jetson with an integrated GPU system. This means eliminating cumbersome external computers and cables with its TIMOS, instead being a single system that quickly moves data collection to analysis. TIMOS, now in use in six countries, provides visibility and intelligence across 12 traffic lanes and the detection of vehicles such as cars and motorbikes. It can also detect safety issues such as jaywalking, erratic driving, speeding violations and stalled vehicles.
“Our traffic solution combines camera and radar technologies and we are currently working on a number of projects to install this merged radar offering along highways from South Korea and beyond,” Lee continued. “Benefits include managing traffic and monitoring unexpected events such as stalled cars, while also providing real-time traffic information to control centers on vehicle volumes, speeds and occupancy.”
The outfit also wants to apply its radar technology to digital health, specifically sleep care. The company says its radar can monitor sleep quality, apnea and limb movements, and offer data analysis about users’ sleeping conditions.
“For health tech, we provide the radar hardware as well as the APIs for companies to integrate sleep quality monitoring into their software,” Lee told TechCrunch. “Currently, our solution is being introduced to aged care facilities and hospitals in South Korea, Singapore and Japan.”
Lee said the outfit is currently in the revenue growth stage and is looking to expand globally through strategic partnerships. It may offer hardware and software, data and licensing agreements.
“Recently, delays in the commercialization of self-driving technology have become a major issue, leading some to believe that there may be limitations to the sensor market. However, with the transition to the software-defined vehicle (SDV) era, there is an increasing need for rapid integration of high-performance and multiple sensors from the early stages. Consequently, the imaging radar and advanced radar market is expected to expand very rapidly,” Lee said.
Investors including Korea Development Bank, HL Mando Corporation, Industrial Bank of Korea and Aju Capital participated in the latest round, which brings its total to $46 million since its inception.
