Lunewave, a Tucson, Arizona-based self-driving car sensor startup, secured $5m in seed funding.
The round was led by Fraser McCombs Capital (FMC) with participation from strategic investments from BMW i Ventures, Baidu Ventures and others. In conjunction with the funding, Mark Norman, Managing Partner at FMC, will join Lunewave’s board of directors.
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate development of radar and antenna technology for autonomous vehicle, 5G and aerospace industries, among others.
Led by John Xin, co-founder and CEO, Lunewave is a startup building new sensors to power autonomous vehicles and 5G wireless networks. The company manufactures specialized Luneburg lens antennae and radar sensors that can act as the “eyes” of self-driving cars. The spherical sensors have a 360-degree field of view and can detect objects surrounding a car with high resolution, even at long range and in poor weather, capabilities that are normally only achievable with the use of multiple sensors.
This offers automakers an alternative to more conventional sensor systems, which can accelerate the deployment of autonomous cars.
Lunewave’s customizable technology has applications in a wide range of industries, including aerospace and wireless telecommunications.
FinSMEs
21/09/2018