Hitachi Astemo Announces Collaboration with Lidar-Alternative Developer TriEye

Tier 1 supplier to collaborate with Tel-Aviv based SWIR sensor developer to integrate novel SEDAR technology to enhance low-visibility ADAS operation.

TriEye’s SWIR-based SEDAR system can provide both imaging and depth data. (TriEye)

Tier 1 supplier Hitachi Astemo has announced a collaboration with TriEye, the Tel Aviv-based developer of a short-wave infrared (SWIR), spectrum-enhanced detection and ranging (SEDAR) sensing solution. The collaboration is intended to help accelerate the launch of SEDAR tech, a potential lidar alternative for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), providing imaging and depth-perception capabilities across a wide range of environmental conditions.

In a release, the companies stated their intention to work together to enhance the capabilities of ADAS in adverse weather and low-light conditions using SEDAR, a CES 2022 Innovation Award Honoree in the Vehicle Intelligence category. Designed to meet automotive market requirements in reduced-visibility conditions, TriEye's SEDAR is enabled by an in-house-developed SWIR sensor, providing high-definition imaging and deterministic 3D mapping in a single-sensor modality.

As a major systems manufacturer for OEMs, Hitachi Astemo will evaluate and validate that SEDAR can be easily integrated into its ADAS to deliver mission-critical 2D and 3D depth information under low-visibility conditions. “Our goal is to continue to work towards improving vehicle safety,” said John Nunneley, senior VP of design engineering at Hitachi Astemo Americas. “We believe that TriEye’s SEDAR can provide autonomous vehicles with ranging and accurate detection capabilities that are needed to increase the safety and operability under all visibility conditions.”

Based on more than a decade of advanced academic research, TriEye’s pioneering CMOS-based SWIR sensor is proprietary technology intended for high-volume, cost-effective implementation. “We are excited to collaborate with Hitachi Astemo,” said Ziv Livne, TriEye’s chief business officer. “Together with Hitachi Astemo’s expertise in building and deploying complex ADAS systems, we can create a clear and focused path towards vehicle integration, saving lives on the road.”

“We understand that a [relationship with a] Tier 1 is essential to this process,” said Avi Bakal, TriEye CEO and co-founder, in a recent interview with SAE Media, “because in the end, the one who will supply the full solution to the OEM will be the Tier 1. As a company, we are very, very good at providing sensing capabilities in SWIR and building the solution for demo. But you’d like to assemble it into a full system connected to the different systems inside the vehicle. That's an essential part of the Tier 1, in order to have a fully qualified product for the vehicle.”