Eye on Oculii: GM partners with U.S.-based radar developer for ADAS technology

Toronto, Ontario — General Motors has announced it has bought into U.S.-based startup Oculii for use of the company’s AI-driven radar technology on GM vehicles.

Oculii claims that its Virtual Aperture Imaging Software Program enables radars to provide the same sort of high-resolution, long-range capability that until now has been available only with more expensive lidar and camera units.

The company says that the low cost of radar units could allow ADAS technology to be more commonly equipped on low-priced vehicles.

Oculii already has established strategic partnerships with Hella, one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers for radar, lighting, and electronic systems; Geely, one of China’s largest automakers; and Infineon, the technology and world market leader in radar silicon.

“The technology that we’re developing enables those same radar sensors—the ones that are already mass-market-proven and deployed in the millions—to be up to a hundred times better from a resolution and a performance standpoint,” said Oculii co-founder and CEO Steven Hong.

“That enables radar to be at the same type of spatial resolution and performance as camera and lidar, but these radars are two-to-three orders of magnitude cheaper—and already market-proven and deployed on cars. So what this software enables is autonomy and safety on a mass scale.”