Canadian ADAS Firm Buys Israel’s VayaVision To Accelerate Autonomous Driving Offerings

Canadian ADAS (advanced driver-assistance systems) company LeddarTech announced that it is acquiring Israeli company VayaVision, the developer of a sensor-based platform for autonomous vehicle perception. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but VayaVision will become a subsidiary of LeddarTech.

VayaVision was founded in 2016 by Ronny Cohen and Dr. Youval Nehmadi and is based in Or Yehuda. The startup combines raw data fusion, AI and machine vision for a platform for autonomous vehicles that gives a complete environmental model outside a vehicle using a system of sensor technologies – LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), radar, and camera. The VayaVision team is comprised of machine and computer vision as well as deep neural networks experts.

The tech has led VayaVision to work with leading players in the automotive industry addressing use cases from L2 (partial driving automation) to L5 (full automation with no human interference) ADAS and AD (Autonomous Driving). In 2018, VayaVision raised $8 million in a seed funding round led by Viola Ventures, OurCrowd, and MizMaa Ventures, with participation from LG Electronics, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.

LeddarTech was founded in 2007 and is based in Quebec City. The company developed a scalable auto and mobility sensing platform based on its LeddarEngine product, a suite of automotive-grade, functional safety certified SoCs (systems on a chip) working in tandem with proprietary LeddarSP signal processing software. LeddarTech says it has over 70 patented technologies, granted or pending, for enhancing ADAS and autonomous driving capabilities.

LeddarTech’s open platform combined with VayaVision’s raw data sensor fusion and perception software stack “will deliver the most accurate environmental model, enabling the volume deployment of cost-efficient ADAS and AD applications,” the companies said in a joint statement.

LeddarTech’s first perception software stack Leddar Pixell LiDAR sensor will be available later this year with production expected next year.

“LeddarTech is a leader in sensing with an open architecture, a global footprint, and history in providing ADAS and AD solutions to the automotive and mobility market. Our combined technologies enable LeddarTech to deliver a one-of-a-kind end-to-end platform to the market, which will accelerate safe, scalable, and affordable ADAS and AD deployment,” VayaVision’s Cohen said.

“The acquisition of VayaVision adds a vital building block by combining their sensor fusion and perception technology with LeddarTech’s proven LeddarEngine platform,” said LeddarTech CEO Charles Boulanger.

“The existing single sensor solutions in the market do not provide the performance, flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness that the market needs for mass deployment. Our LeddarEngine platform built on an open software architecture combined with VayaVision sensor fusion and perception enables LeddarTech to address customers’ need for sensing solutions that are hardware agnostic, scalable, and adaptable to any vehicle and sensor configuration,” he added.