Autonomous driving: Continental acquires minority stake in AI chip start-up Recogni

Autonomous driving: Continental acquires minority stake in AI chip start-up Recogni

• Need for high-performance processors is growing, with increasing requirements for networked, automated and autonomous driving
• Production rollout of new chip architecture for faster object recognition expected as soon as 2026
•  New processor design could complement the opportunities offered by the existing partnership with NVIDIA
• Continental start-up organization co-pace in collaboration with Continental AI experts demonstrates the efficiency of the new chip design

(PRESS RELEASE) HANOVER, 23-Feb-2021 — /EuropaWire/ — Continental announces that it has invested in a German-US start-up Recogni. The company is working on a new chip architecture for object recognition in real time based on artificial intelligence (AI). As a strategic investor, Continental is contributing both its financial commitment as well as its expertise in the field of AI, vehicle sensors and advanced driver assistance systems to further the development of the chip design. The processors of the future are intended for use in Continental’s high-performance vehicle computers, among other applications, where they will perform rapid processing of sensor data for automated and autonomous driving. Figuratively speaking, the new, highly specialized processors serve as an ultra-economical data booster: with minimal energy consumption, they enable vehicle computers to gain a rapid sense of the vehicle’s immediate surroundings, thus creating the basis for automated and autonomous driving. Continental experts predict that volume production featuring the new chip application could begin as early as 2026. Both companies have agreed not to disclose the amount of the holding.

“Without faster chips, there will be no networking, no automation and no autonomous driving,” emphasizes Frank Petznick, head of the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems business unit at Continental. “Through our own research in the area of new chip designs, our strategic partnerships with large chip manufacturers such as NVIDIA and our investment in Recogni, we are taking the first step toward meeting the future need for highly specialized processors for sensor modules and control units for our powerful, high-performance vehicle computers.”

“Continental’s support is a strong endorsement of Recogni’s approach to solving the most difficult challenges in autonomous driving,” says R K Anand, Recogni’s Chief Executive Officer. “Recogni’s focus enables us to solve challenge of perception processing by building the world’s highest performing AI inference system at the lowest energy consumption, by developing cutting-edge ASICs for state-of-the-art inference algorithms.”

Need for computing power in cars is steadily rising

The need for processors that are optimized for the specific requirements of AI is growing. Whereas just a few megabytes of sensor data per second had to be analyzed a couple of years ago, that figure will increase to several gigabytes per second in the coming years. And while a lane departure warning system used to require just a simple black-and-white camera, the autonomous vehicles of the future will in some cases use more than 20 high-resolution vehicle-surroundings sensors such as radar, camera and lidar simultaneously.

System know-how with venture capital

The collaboration between Continental and Recogni was initiated by Continental’s own start-up organization, co-pace. The worldwide team of technology experts took notice of Recogni and the two have been working together closely over the past 18 months to ensure the greatest possible technical feasibility and, above all, the theoretical efficiency of the new chip design. “While everything is still theoretical, our simulations show that we can expect exponentially faster analysis of our sensor data once we begin to use the Recogni chips,” explains Annika Ratte-Front, head of AI at Continental’s ADAS business unit.

Co-pace

co-pace is the start-up organization of Continental. We support Continental’s ambitions to spearhead the mobility wave – and beyond. To that end, we take an active role in the global start-up ecosystem and embrace new technologies and business models, irrespective of Continental’s organizational structures.

Recogni

Recogni develops an AI and sensor-supported environment perception system for autonomous vehicles. The system offers unparalleled performance thanks to state-of-the-art AI processing, which allows vehicles to see farther and make decisions much faster and more precisely than humans, while keeping energy intake to a minimum. The company, based in San Jose, California, also has a team that works out of Munich. Further information is available at www.recogni.com.

Media contacts:

Sören Pinkow
External Communications
Autonomous Mobility and Safety
Phone: +49 69 7603-8492
E-mail: soeren.pinkow@continental.com

Enno Pigge
Spokesman, Innovation, Technology, Sustainability
Phone: +49 511 938-1622
E-mail: enno.pigge@conti.de
Twitter: @EnnoPigge

SOURCE: Continental AG