BMW, Toyota, and Allianz Back NAUTO and its Camera-Based Approach to Autonomous Vehicles
NAUTO, a self-driving car tech startup, has secured an undisclosed amount of venture funding and forged data-sharing partnerships with automotive and insurance heavyweights, BMW, Toyota, and Allianz Group. This investment comes from BMW iVentures, Toyota Research Institute, and Allianz Ventures, who participated in NAUTO’s Series A funding round. NAUTO’s unique approach utilizes cameras, motion sensors, and GPS systems, coupled with its own AI software, to monitor both road conditions and driver behavior inside the vehicle.
The technology detects potentially risky situations and alerts drivers to refocus and prevent accidents. NAUTO’s system, consisting of a cabin-facing and a forward-facing camera, automatically records when a collision is imminent. This recorded footage can be used by professional drivers to provide evidence in cases of accidents, helping resolve disputes and refute claims. Drivers can also manually initiate recordings for situations like unruly passengers, which alerts fleet managers and provides a live stream of the incident.
NAUTO’s CEO, Stefan Heck, believes the technology is beneficial for professional drivers today and will continue to evolve with more data gathered on driving behavior and road conditions. The company’s dashcam-like system helps drivers avoid collisions by identifying dangerous situations. Heck highlights the importance of this technology, especially in congested urban environments, stating, “People are familiar with follow the lanes, don’t hit the car in front of you and you will mostly stay out of trouble… But that doesn’t work in downtown San Francisco, or New York, with lots of people, traffic and parked cars.”
NAUTO’s technology is already being used by various fleets, including package delivery, food delivery, oil and gas transportation, and taxi and limousine services. Though Uber and Lyft drivers are using NAUTO through driver associations, the company has yet to secure a formal partnership with a transportation network company.
Toyota Research Institute’s Jim Adler emphasizes the role NAUTO’s technology plays in accelerating the development of safe autonomous vehicles. “There’s an assumption in the industry that we will need self-driving cars to cover billions of miles across all kinds of weather, traffic and other conditions before they are safe. We think it will take trillions of miles to understand everything we need to. And NAUTO is already out there, researching traffic and driver behavior in dangerous situations,” Adler said.
