HELLA, one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers for radar, lighting and electronic systems, and Oculii, a pioneer in advanced software solutions for radar technology, have established a strategic partnership to deliver high performance radar sensing and perception solutions for Level 2/3 ADAS and Automated Driving (AD) based on Oculii’s Virtual Aperture Imaging Software Technology and HELLA’s experience and leadership in automotive radar. Both parties will combine their complementary know-how and capabilities in their respective domains.
According to the company, Oculii’s patented Virtual Aperture Imaging software technology significantly increases the angular resolution of a radar phased array – dramatically improving safety, reliability and efficiency of ADAS solutions today and autonomous driving vehicles of the future. The software technology scales angular resolution without requiring multiple active transceivers or expensive antenna technologies, creating a cost effective, high performance solution that dramatically enhances existing radar architectures. Leveraging this software technology, HELLA will bring in its high competence in the field of automotive radar hardware design experience and industrialization capabilities along the entire supply chain to leverage and extend their existing radar product platform. This joint development effort will bring high resolution best-in-class Level 2/3 ADAS imaging radar solutions to global automotive OEMs.
“This collaboration with Oculii will enable us to leverage advanced software technology to significantly enhance the performance of our leading automotive radar platform,” said Frank Petznick, EVP Automated Driving and member of the Executive Board Electronics at HELLA. Petznick also says, “Oculii’s Virtual Aperture Imaging technology will enable us to develop radar solutions that catalyze new functionality for ADAS and promote the trend towards AD.”
“HELLA is a leader in automotive radar and an ideal strategic partner for Oculii as we look to deploy our Virtual Aperture Imaging radar software technology with OEM partners,” said Steven Hong, PhD, CEO of Oculii. “Oculii and HELLA have demonstrated that our combined expertise can deliver a radar perception platform that can meet the needs of both ADAS solutions today, as well as AD in the future.”
In December, HELLA Ventures also became a shareholder of Oculii. “Oculii and HELLA will work hand in hand to accelerate each other’s go-to-market timeline by focusing on each other’s core capabilities. The investment in Oculii completes our strong ADAS/AD perception portfolio,” says Marco Marinucci, partner & head of HELLA Ventures. The first joint development projects will start immediately, with the objective of a SOP in 2023.
