Automotive AI Chip Vendor Horizon Robotics Raised $400 million in C2 funding

Horizon Robotics, a Chinese automotive AI chip start-up that is developing specialized chips for autonomous vehicles, has raised another $400 million in its latest C2 round of funding. The latest $400 million investment was jointly led by Baillie Gifford, Yunfeng Fund, CPE, and CATL, a Chinese battery maker, according to an announcement by the company. The goal of complete $700 million Series C funding round is to accelerate the development and commercialization of a new generation of chips for use in Level 4 (high automation) and Level 5 (full automation) and to build an open and successful partner ecosystem, according to the company. Horizon Robotics says it is the world's first automotive smart chip start-up company based on deep learning technology, and it claims to have achieved mass production of automotive-grade smart chips covering Level 2 (partial automation) or Level 3 (conditional automation). Horizon Robotics plans to launch the industry's flagship Journey 5 chip for Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous driving in the first half of 2021. Following that, Journey 6 chips will be more powerful by using a car-grade 7nm process, and artificial intelligence computing power will exceed 400 TOPS.

Uncanny Humanoid Robot ‘Sophia’ To Enter Mass Production in 2021

Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics is to begin mass producing four models of humanoid robot by the end of the year, including the high-profile social humanoid robot, Sophia. It was first presented at South by Southwest in Texas in 2016 and has become a prominent example of realistic humanoid robots which embody AI. In 2018, the robot was upgraded with functional legs. Powered by in-house research & development and external technical support, Sophia is capable of holding a simple conversation, imitating human gestures, and making 60 facial expressions. Production is set to begin in the first half of 2021, as researchers expect the Covid-19 pandemic will open up new opportunities for the robotics industry. As David Hanson, founder and CEO of Hanson Robotics, said, the world of Covid-19 is going to need more and more automation to keep people safe. Professor Johan Hoorn, an expert in social robots at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, thought that the pandemic may encourage humans to form relationships with social robots sooner than expected. He said, “I can infer the pandemic will actually help us get robots earlier in the market because people start to realise that there is no other way.”

RoboCap Advisor Paul Newman’s Oxbotica Raises $47m in Funding Led by BP

Oxbotica, a global leader in autonomous vehicle software, has announced the completion of a $47 million Series B investment with partners across the globe led by bp Ventures. Oxbotica was co-founded in 2014 by its Chief Technology Officer Paul Newman who is also a trusted member of the RoboCap Advisory board. This board helps RoboCap to understand key technologies which are important as well as the latest industry trends, this is expert information which we utilise to help make investment decisions. The proceeds of the funding will be used to accelerate the commercial deployment of its world-class autonomy software platform across multiple industries and key markets. The news is an endorsement of Oxbotica’s go-to-market strategy which involves deploying its autonomy software in industrial use cases before rolling out in urban passenger transportation applications. The funding involved some very high calibre and well-known investors including BGF, bp Ventures, Halma, HostPlus, IP Group, Tencent, Venture Science, and funds advised by Doxa Partners. Since 2014, Oxbotica has grown from a UK robotics start-up to one of the world’s leading autonomy companies. Oxbotica designs and implements software platforms which have the aim of providing Universal Autonomy. They have two main platforms – the first is Selenium which is their flagship product, it is a full stack autonomous driving platform which does not rely on GPS or HD maps to be able to operate meaning that it can work in almost any environment both indoor and outdoor (even underground in mines for instance). Selenium also rather uniquely is not dependent on a specific type of sensor meaning that it is capable of working without Lidar for instance. Their other main platform is called Caesium which is a cloud-based fleet and data management platform which can be combined with Selenium and allow a collection of vehicles to work as a co-ordinated fleet. Both these highly advanced technologies supports Oxbotica’s unique horizontal B2B model providing operators, integrators and manufacturers the autonomy functionality and flexibility they need – be that a full stack or on a component-by-component basis.