Working Together to Optimize Path Planning, Obstacle Avoidance and Situational Awareness for Autonomous Vehicles and Machines

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 11, 2021 — (PRNewswire) —  Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) and VayaVision, a LeddarTech Company, announced today an alliance that will bring advanced perception technology to the agriculture, construction and mining markets. The integration of VayaVision's raw data sensor fusion and perception software platform with Trimble's existing industry-leading machine control technology can enable intelligent automation in complex work environments. Together, Trimble and VayaVision expect to provide an innovative hardware and software portfolio, improving autonomous machine performance for a variety of industries. 

The alliance is focused on advancing data fusion for multi-sensor systems such as LiDAR, cameras and GNSS. These sensors are used to produce reliable environmental mapping, which is critical for autonomous solutions. The result is expected to enable improvements in the performance of autonomous machines operating in challenging work environments or when supporting safety-critical applications.

Both companies will collaborate to advance autonomous development and adoption with a customizable portfolio that can potentially benefit agriculture, construction and mining professionals in several ways by:

• Improving operational efficiency, decreasing labor costs and reducing project timelines
• Helping customers scale their automation efforts—from driver assistance features to fully autonomous solutions
• Offering a flexible, customer-centric approach to product engineering and implementation
• Reducing customer development costs and accelerating time to market with machine automation
• Augmenting or replacing human control to create a safer work environment through path optimization, obstacle avoidance and situational awareness
• Improving sustainability by optimizing vehicle functionality and utilization with automation to reduce idle time, fuel consumption and environmental impact

"Our business model is to collaborate with strategic partners to integrate our core technologies into their platform products which, in turn, can be used across multiple end applications. The alliance positions Trimble to deliver a highly capable path planning and autonomous system for the agriculture, construction and mining industries," said Youval Nehmadi, director of Perception Engineering of LeddarTech, Israel. "Our LeddarVision perception software delivers advanced, flexible and robust 3D environmental solution for off-road and passenger car applications today."

"Trimble has been connecting the physical and digital worlds with our best-in-class automation technologies for more than 20 years—whether it is in agriculture, construction or mining," said Finlay Wood, business area director for Trimble's Autonomous Solutions Division. "We see the demand for operator assistance, autonomous machines and workflow optimization accelerating dramatically and alliances such as this are a critical part of how we will bring added value to our customers in all levels of autonomy."

The BIRD Foundation, a bi-national research and industrial development fund that promotes cooperation between U.S. and Israeli companies, is supporting the alliance. The foundation's commitment recognizes the value of combining Trimble's more than 20 years of advanced machine control technology with VayaVision's leading perception software to advance industrial autonomy. For more information on the BIRD Foundation, visit:  www.birdf.com.

About VayaVision, A LeddarTech Company

VayaVision, based in Israel, offers a leading environmental perception solution. LeddarVision provides vehicles with crucial information on the dynamically changing driving environment for safer and reliable autonomous driving. The software solution encompasses state of the art raw data fusion with up-sampling, AI, and computer vision, and has inherent redundancy that is required for functional safety.

LeddarTech, which acquired VayaVision in 2020, is a leader in environmental sensing platforms for autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Founded in 2007, LeddarTech has evolved to become a comprehensive end-to-end environmental sensing company by enabling customers to solve critical sensing and perception challenges across the entire value chain of the automotive and mobility market segments. LeddarVision™ was designed using VayaVisions' VayaDrive and LeddarTech's LeddarSense technology. It is a sensor-fusion and perception platform that is cost-effective, scalable, and a versatile LiDAR development solution for automotive-grade solid-state LiDARs based on the LeddarEngine™. LeddarTech enables Tier 1-2 automotive system integrators to develop full-stack sensing solutions from Level 1-5. This platform is actively deployed in autonomous shuttles, trucks, buses, delivery vehicles, smart city/factory, and robotaxi applications. The company is responsible for several innovations in cutting-edge automotive and mobility remote-sensing applications, with over 95 patent or patent pending technologies, which  enhance ADAS and autonomous driving capabilities. Visit:  www.leddartech.com.

About Trimble Autonomy 

Trimble Autonomy is developing solutions and services that enable the next generation of autonomous functionality to improve productivity and safety. Trimble has been at the forefront of positioning innovation for over 35 years, providing automated and autonomous solutions for off-road machines such as tractors and haulers. Positioning is the foundation for helping transform how the world leverages autonomy through a robust suite of solutions, which include GPS/GNSS, truthing, inertial, dead-reckoning, machine control, sensor fusion and more. For more, visit:  positioningservices.trimble.com/industries/automotive.

About Trimble

Trimble is transforming the way the world works by delivering products and services that connect the physical and digital worlds. Core technologies in positioning, modeling, connectivity and data analytics enable customers to improve productivity, quality, safety and sustainability. From purpose-built products to enterprise lifecycle solutions, Trimble software, hardware and services are transforming industries such as agriculture, automotive, construction, geospatial and transportation. For more information about Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB), visit:  www.trimble.com.

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SOURCE Trimble

Contact:

Company Name: Trimble, VayaVision Lea Ann McNabb, Trimble Phone: +1 408-481-7808 Email Contact Daniel Aitken, LeddarTech Inc. Phone: + 1-418-653-9000 ext. 232 Email Contact Web: http://www.trimble.com Financial data for Trimble, VayaVision