Press Release: TetraVue, the leader in high definition 4D LIDAR™ technology, today announced that KLA Tencor, Lam Research and Tsing Capital have joined existing investors Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH, Samsung Catalyst Fund and Nautilus Ventures in providing additional funding to the company.

TetraVue technology is radically different from current LIDAR approaches, merging the resolution of HD video with range data to enable the industry’s first long-range, 4D motion capture. It is the first 4D camera technology that captures real-time images with depth perception down to each pixel, allowing it to transform markets including autonomous vehicles, machine vision and factory automation.

Today’s digital video cameras accurately capture high resolution 2D images over time, but are unable to see the depth of objects. Competing LIDAR solutions can detect the depth of a set of points, but at insufficient resolution to be discernable as an image. TetraVue cameras uniquely merge digital video with LIDAR technology by capturing multi-megapixel images at up to 30 frames per second with accurate depth for each individual pixel. As a result, a TetraVue camera has the ability to process 100x more real-time data describing object location and motion in the surrounding environment.

“We were impressed with the novel approach that TetraVue brings to solving the high-resolution depth sensing problem currently facing automotive makers who plan to deploy autonomous vehicles,” said David Fisher, Senior VP, Corporate Business Development, KLA-Tencor. “Their uniqueness convinced us to bring both our financial and engineering resources to bear to help them realize the vision.”

“HD video with accurate depth per pixel is the “Holy Grail” of machine vision that can transform emerging markets from autonomous vehicles, augmented and virtual reality and smart factories,” said Hal Zarem, CEO, TetraVue. “TetraVue technology is unmatched in the industry, capturing all four dimensions, 3D plus time, each in high resolution.”

With more accurate  information autonomous vehicles should be able to make faster and safer driving decisions.

This technology certainly has the potential to be a game changer.