French startup Outsight announces it has raised $20 million during an investment round. The money will be used to further develop the semantic 3D camera Outsight is working on. This camera makes it possible to simultaneously register and understand a 3D environment.
Outsight was founded in 2019 by Cedric Hutchings and Raul Bravo, and based in the French capital Paris. The company's 3D Semantic Camera was launched in September. Shortly afterwards, the company was awarded a CES 2020 Best of Innovation Award and the CES 2020 Honoree award.
Smart cities and automotive
The 3D Semantic Camera is available in two variants: one aimed at smart cities and the other intended for the automotive sector. The first variant is designed for use in large-scale environments, such as airports and shopping malls. Among other things, the camera system allows real-time mapping of physical activity in such environments. This makes it possible, among other things, to channel flows of people and identify and track objects.
The second variant is specifically focused on use in vehicles. Think cars, but also mobile robots for off-road use. The system can recognise and identify road markings, traffic signs and vegetation, among other things. With this camera system, Outsight aims to increase the safety and reliability of the current generation of human-driven vehicles.
Level 0 to 5
This specifically involves vehicles with level 1 to 3 autonomy. Using the technology, Outsight aims to accelerate the development of fully automated machines with level 4 to 5 autonomy. Knowledge centre CROW uses the following definitions for these levels:
- Level 0 - no automation: The driver performs all driving tasks, but may be supported by warning systems or systems that intervene in the driving task, such as adaptive cruise control.
- Level 1 - driver support: A system partially takes over operational driving tasks such as steering, braking and accelerating. All other dynamic driving tasks are the responsibility of the driver.
- Level 2 - partial automation: A system takes over all operational driving tasks such as steering, braking and acceleration from the driver. In addition, tactical driving tasks are taken over from the driver to a limited extent. Thus, at this level, the driver is still closely involved in driving the vehicle.
- Level 3 - conditional automation: A system takes over all operational driving tasks and part of the tactical and strategic driving tasks from the driver. If necessary, the driver should be able to take control of the system directly.
- Level 4 - highly automated: A system takes over all operational tasks and some of the tactical and strategic driving tasks from the driver. At this level, the driver can focus his attention on other things, as the system does not assume that a driver will react adequately to take control of the vehicle at all times.
- Level 5 - fully automated: A system takes over all operational driving tasks, all tactical driving tasks and some of the strategic driving tasks from the driver. This level is suitable for all conceivable road and environmental situations, which means, among other things, that the driver can hand over control to the system in all weather conditions.
Outsight claims to integrate 'full awareness of the environment' into a single device with its 3D Semantic Camera. This makes the camera system the first of its kind, according to the startup.
Among others, Demeter Partners, the holding company of Belgian family Périer-D'Ieteren SPDG and French bank BNPR Paribas are putting money into Outsight. Also investing is Faurecia, a company with which Outsight is collaborating on applications for the automotive sector. Another investor is Safran, an international high-tech company with which Outsight also collaborates. As part of this collaboration, Safran is integrating Outsight's cameras into its vision solutions.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Outsight
