A future where you can relax as your car navigates Triangle traffic on its own is coming – it’s just a matter of when, experts say. And Triangle innovation is powering the effort, from laser research that started in university laboratories to technologies that could someday help cars actually see the road.
By 2027, the global autonomous vehicle market could eclipse $724 billion, according to a report out of Emergen Research. That means big companies and crafty entrepreneurs are working feverishly to develop the breakthrough technologies that will drive the industry forward.
Here’s some of the local technology and innovators behind the wheel.
Brightview Technologies’ laser focus on self-driving cars
Durham-based Brightview Technologies is working on technologies that could have direct implications on how well a self-driving car can someday detect obstacles without a human driver at the wheel. The firm, led by CEO Jennifer Aspell, deals in components involved in LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology – similar to radar, but using a laser to detect objects.
BrightView makes a component specifically for flash LiDAR, where the entire field of view is illuminated with a laser beam in a single pulse. Earlier this year, the firm, which also works in LED lighting, next-generation displays and 3D sensing, launched what it calls its new T-Series Top Hat Micro Lens Array product line to create optical profiles for LiDAR.
BrightView, which has 50 employees, is seeing a lot of interest from the sector in terms of development activities, but mainstreaming self-driving vehicles with the technology is still a ways away.
“In general, the belief is that driver-assist technology is the first step,” Aspell said.
That’s where Brightview’s components are currently being directed with the hope that as the technology develops they’ll become a mainstay in self-driving cars.
“We like to talk about the fourth industrial revolution, with artificial intelligence,” Aspell said. “All of these machines need a way to perceive their physical environment.”
Archaeius ‘navigates’ autonomous vehicle future
A few miles away in Durham, a stealthy company called Archaeius is raking in millions from investors to make future autonomous vehicles better navigators.
Archaeius, the brainchild of serial entrepreneur and robot scientist Rick Vosburgh, formerly of marine robot startup Nekton Research, is looking at ways to navigate by measuring the drag of the earth’s magnetic field. The key is accuracy.
For autonomous vehicles to be successful, they have to have extremely accurate navigational systems, as well as backups. Current GPS is backed up by what’s called inertia navigation, a system Vosburgh describes as error-ridden and expensive. He says his system has a margin of error in a day of about 8 meters, while the status quo can be off by 2 kilometers in an hour.
It’s early for Archaeius’ journey. Right now the team is writing patents and working to fulfill a pair of contracts with the U.S. Air Force. But Vosburgh sees the technology as having big potential for auto manufacturers in the future.
“I would be so bold as to say that without our magnetic velocity technology or something that’s equivalent … I think the regulators and the insurance carriers are going to continue to be a drag on the growth of the autonomous vehicle industry,” Vosburgh said in July.
Universities drive innovation
At Triangle universities, researchers are developing new technologies, some of which will likely be commercialized – perhaps to a future startup or even an existing automobile brand.
One such project is happening now at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where researchers recently developed a technique aimed at allowing autonomous vehicle software to make calculations more quickly to improve traffic and safety. Ali Hajbabaie, corresponding author of a paper on the research and an assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, acknowledges the idea of handing over control to a machine is scary.
“When we look at these vehicles going 75 miles per hour and then they need to get to an offramp, I’m not going to trust them,” he said.
But breaking down the problem in a simulated environment simplified the process for the technology. From lane changes to following distance, each piece is broken into smaller “sub-problems,” sending those to different processors to solve separately.
The process, called parallelization, was found to improve efficiency, particularly in very complex problems such as lane merging scenarios in heavy highway traffic.
While commercialization is definitely a goal, no conversations have happened yet with automakers, Hajbabaie said. But he hopes that by making the research available, the team can show what’s possible, and help alleviate the fears associated with the idea of a self-driving car facing down real-world traffic.
Big-name companies buying Triangle innovation
Those homegrown technologies are just scratching the surface when it comes to the Triangle’s growing interest in the autonomous vehicle space. With the presence of research universities like Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State, new projects – and new companies – are starting all the time. And they’re reeling in the interest – and dollars- of others in the sector, including big name technology companies such as Meta.
Meta (Nasdaq: META), the parent of Facebook, last year acquired ImagineOptix, a Durham-based spinout from N.C. State that develops optics technologies, including components of the LIDAR systems used in autonomous vehicles.
Around the same time, California-based public company Ouster (NYSE: OUST) announced it had bought out Durham laser technology firm Sense Photonics, a move that created subsidiary Ouster Automotive. The firm’s technology focused on helping self-driving cars see obstacles with lasers.
Sense Photonics’ co-founders Scott Burroughs and Russ Kanjorski launched another startup last year after securing a patent for similar technology.
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