Hyundai CRADLE Invests in Perceptive Automata to Bring Human Intuition Software to Self-Driving Cars
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MENLO PARK, CA - October 10, 2018: Hyundai CRADLE, Hyundai Motor Company's corporate venturing and open innovation business, today announced it is investing in Perceptive Automata to develop artificial intelligence software for self-driving cars and automated systems. Perceptive Automata, a startup based in Somerville, Mass. with an office in Silicon Valley, has developed software that gives autonomous vehicles the ability to understand the state-of-mind of people, including pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists. The predictive technology enables automated vehicles to make rapid judgments about the intentions and awareness of people on the street. This gives machines unprecedented human-like intuition. To see the technology in action click here.
Perceptive Automata’s core technology takes sensor data from vehicles that show interactions with people. This rich data is used to train deep learning models to interpret human behavior the way people do. The end result is sophisticated AI software that can be integrated into autonomous driving systems. With the software installed, autonomous vehicles can anticipate what pedestrians, cyclists and motorists might do next.
“We are ecstatic to have an investor on board like Hyundai that understands the importance of the problem we are solving for self-driving cars and next-generation driver assistance systems,” said Sid Misra, co-founder and CEO of Perceptive Automata. “Hyundai is one of the biggest automakers in the world and having them back our technology is incredibly validating.”
Perceptive Automata’s software is particularly useful if a pedestrian begins to cross the street but sees the approaching autonomous car and decides to stop and ‘wave’ it on. In this situation, an autonomous vehicle without the software would stop and wait, even though the pedestrian has no intention to cross. Perceptive Automata’s software can read the pedestrian’s intent and pass this information to the autonomous system’s decision-making module.
“One of the biggest hurdles facing autonomous vehicles is the inability to interpret the critical visual cues about human behavior that human drivers can effortlessly process,” said John Suh, vice president of Hyundai CRADLE. “Perceptive Automata is giving the AV industry the tools to deploy autonomous vehicles that understand more like humans, creating a safer and smoother driving experience.”
This year, Hyundai has expanded its investment into artificial intelligence technologies that can improve Hyundai’s core automotive business, as well as adjacent areas in robotics and human machine interactions. Hyundai has also been actively investing from its AI Alliance Fund, co-founded in late 2017, with SK Telecom and Hanwha Asset Management.
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About Hyundai CRADLE
Hyundai CRADLE is the Center for Robotic-augmented Design in Living Experiences. CRADLE strengthens Hyundai Motor Group’s core automotive business and expands it into new and adjacent markets with the goal of enhancing transportation on and off the road. The company also plans to expand the Hyundai CRADLE innovation concept globally.
About Perceptive Automata
Perceptive Automata is solving one of the hardest problems of automated driving: enabling vehicles to predict and understand human behavior to help safely achieve the large-scale rollout of highly-automated vehicles (L2/3) and fully-autonomous driving systems (L4/5). Perceptive Automata allows autonomous systems to anticipate human reactions so they can navigate safely and smoothly around pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers. This is essential for autonomous systems to safely and seamlessly integrate into a human-dominated road environment and to enable a smooth ride experience for passengers of automated mobility services. For more information about Perceptive Automata, visit www.perceptiveautomata.com.
