Ottomatika Inc., a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff company that provides software and systems development for self-driving vehicles, has been acquired by Delphi Automotive PLC.
Led by Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Raj Rajkumar, Ottomatika branched off from Carnegie Mellon in 2013 and received an investment from Delphi in November 2014.
The Ottomatika deal highlights Carnegie Mellon’s advanced expertise in complex autonomous vehicle systems and in creating exciting companies and technologies that are highly sought after by industry. The company says that the univ
ersity’s talented faculty and staff have attracted major technology companies, including Google and Apple, and valuable engineering talent to the region. The university has spun out 138 companies since 2009.
“Carnegie Mellon is at the forefront of exciting technologies that have a real impact on the world,” said Carnegie Mellon Provost Farnam Jahanian. “The Ottomatika deal exemplifies how CMU researchers and entrepreneurs are bringing technologies to market that benefit not only the university and the private sector, but society as a whole. CMU remains the destination for faculty and students who seek a culture of innovation, collaborative problem-solving and entrepreneurship.”
Ottomatika’s software acts as the brain powering Delphi’s advanced network of sensor technology for autonomous vehicles. Together, the companies created a platform that enables vehicles to make safe, highly complex decisions in an instant.
The Delphi Drive system, powered with software from Ottomatika, was recognized at the Consumer Electronics Show among Mashable’s Best of CES 2015. In addition, the combined software from Delphi and Ottomatika enabled the longest drive by an automated vehicle in North America in April 2015. The Delphi vehicle completed a 3,400-mile trip from San Francisco to New York in autonomous mode 99 percent of the time. During the nine-day trip, the vehicle navigated through construction zones and met a variety of traffic and weather conditions.
Carnegie Mellon has been at the forefront of autonomous vehicle research and development for more than 30 years. The university has filed more than 140 invention disclosures for related technologies and has created 14 generations of self-driving vehicles.
