Israel’s Innoviz Technologies, a maker of sensors for self-driving cars, and Harman International Industries Ltd. a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., said they have set up a partnership to sell Innoviz’s solutions to car manufacturers globally.
Harman, a developer of connected technologies for the automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, will use the LiDAR sensors developed by Innoviz to increase its offering of sensor technologies for automakers and help them improve their vehicle safety, perception, connectivity and experience. More than 25 million automobiles on the road are equipped with Harman’s audio and connected car systems.
Innoviz’s sensors will add to Harman’s existing advanced driver assisted systems (ADAS) and automated driving solutions, which aim to provided features to assist drivers in the era of partially automatic and fully automatic vehicles.
The LiDAR sensors developed by Kfar Saba, Israel-based Innoviz provide accurate images of the vehicles’ surroundings through object detection, classification and tracking at long distances. Its flagship product, InnovizOne, which Harman will make available to original equipment manufacturers via the partnership, is a 3D LiDAR sensor that is designed specifically for use in the automotive industry and for mass production.
Last year Innoviz signed an agreement with BMW Group to provide it with its LiDAR sensors for its autonomous vehicle projects.
The Israeli firm, founded in 2016, has raised some $82 million to date from investors including Samsung Catalyst Fund, an arm of Samsung Electronics, and Korea’s SoftBank Ventures, according to the database of Start-Up Nation Central, which tracks Israel’s tech scene.
Harman International in October opened a new 46,000-square foot (4,273-square meter) facility in Hod Hasharon, in central Israel, that is the base of all of its activities in Israel.
“We are now preparing for the next phase of growth — connected vehicles and automated driving — and the entrepreneurial spirit and innovations taking place in Israel play an instrumental part in this strategy,” said Harman president and CEO Dinesh Paliwal at the time.