AEye, a U.S.-based LiDAR startup, has raised a Series B funding of US$ 40 million from Taiwania Capital and existing investors including Kleiner Perkins, Intel Capital, Airbus Ventures and Tychee Partners.

With its Series B round, the company has received a total funding of over US$61 million. The funds will be used to scale AEye’s operations to meet global demand for the company’s artificial perception systems for autonomous vehicles. AEye is uniquely structured to effectively scale through partnerships with contract manufacturers and Tier 1s on a global basis. According to the company, it aims to provide artificial perception systems that address both ADAS and Mobility solutions and engagements with customers and partners in Europe, North America, and Asia.

(Image: AEye)

Luis Dussan, AEye founder and CEO, said, “This funding marks an inflection point for AEye, as we scale our staff, partnerships and investments to align with our customers’ roadmap to commercialization. Our strategic relationship with Taiwania will serve as a gateway to Asia, with valuable manufacturing, logistics and technology resources that will accelerate our ability to address the needs of a global market. We intend to launch our next generation product at CES, which we believe will help OEMs and Tier 1s accelerate their products and services by delivering market leading performance at the lowest cost.”

Meanwhile, the company has announced that it has achieved a new range and scan rate record which is essential for the safety of autonomous vehicles. The company set up tests to establish and verify the range and scan rates of the iDAR system, the LiDAR technology developed by AEye.

To test range, a standard 20-foot moving truck was tracked and continuously scanned down the length of the 914 meter runway. At the end of the runway, the iDAR system was fully able to continuously detect, and track the movements of the vehicle as well as detect runway signs and markers en route. The AEye sensor vehicle was then taken off the runway to extend the available test range to over 1000m, where iDAR continued to track the truck without difficulty.

“The test conducted by AEye delivered impressive results,” said Sara Sargent, senior engineer at VSI Labs. “We monitored the performance and the truck was clearly identifiable and visible at 1 kilometer. We were also able to verify that AEye’s iDAR system achieves scan rates of 100Hz and that the fusion of the camera and LiDAR in the iDAR sensor produces accurate true color real-time point clouds in the form of Dynamic Vixels. This is an outstanding achievement that demonstrates the true potential of perception systems to reliably and accurately detect and track objects at great range.”