Car manufacturing giant Toyota’s subsidiary Woven Planet Holdings acquires high definition mapping startup CARMERA. No official information has been revealed by the companies regarding the valuation of the deal.
CARMERA is a US-based artificial intelligence startup that develops road safety solutions for autonomous driving vehicles. With this acquisition, Woven Planet aims to get a better grip on the market.
CARMERA’s team will now work alongside Woven Planet’s Automated Mapping Platform (AMP) team to develop high-definition maps to improve safety features for self-driving vehicles. Both the enterprises had collaborated earlier in 2018 to develop a CARMERA-based HD mapping system for roads. Officials say that this acquisition will help the AMP department to boost their research speed and quickly commercialize their product using CARMERA’s expertise.
CEO and founder of CARMERA, Ro Gupta, said, “Woven Planet and Automated Mapping Platform have been highly aligned with CARMERA’s culture and mission from the beginning. Our teams have a common view of the unmet need for ubiquity in advanced mobility data going forward, including maps.”
He further added that Woven Planet’s advanced platform would help them develop safety technologies for the industry. The merged company will focus on its ‘Mobility for all’ initiative using faster spatial intelligence. CARMERA will continue its operations from its offices in Seattle and New York and steadily integrate a fifty-member team into Woven Plant Holding’s projects.
Vice President of Automated driving strategy at Woven Planet, Mandali Khalesi, said, “With CARMERA joining the team, we’ll be able to hit the accelerator. CARMERA’s software stack, which is focused on real-time high definition map changes and proprietary hardware custom tailored to crowdsourcing, is an ideal complement to AMP’s mapping efforts.”
He also mentioned that with the support of industry-leading engineers from CARMERA, they would soon begin their operations in the United States.
