Automotive manufacturer BMW led an $18m series B round for US-based light detection technology developer Blackmore Sensors and Analytics on Tuesday through its strategic investment subsidiary, BMW i Ventures.
Another carmaker, Toyota, took part in the round through its Toyota AI Ventures unit, and the corporates were joined by investment firm Millennium Technology Value Partners and venture capital firm Next Frontier Capital.
Founded in 2016, Blackmore Sensors is working on lidar technology, an object detection system which transmits light to pinpoint the position of objects, rather than the radio signals used by radar-based systems.
The company’s sensors utilise frequency-modulated continuous waves (FMCWs) of light, a system capable of delineating gaps between objects more effectively than other types of lidar and detecting objects at a greater range with less power.
The series B cash will fund the expansion of Blackmore’s production capacity, as it seeks to supply its technology for advanced driver assistance and autonomous driving systems. It had previously received $3.5m in a late 2016 series A round co-led by Next Frontier and Millennium.
Zach Barasz, partner at BMW i Ventures, said: “Advances in new sensor technologies, like lidar, are going to make cars safer and, eventually, autonomous. Blackmore has unique and innovative FMCW lidar technology that delivers a new dimension of data to future vehicles.”
Jim Adler, Toyota AI Ventures’ managing director, added: “Perception is critical to the perception-prediction-planning automated driving stack, and we are excited to see the innovations that Blackmore is bringing to the top of this stack.”