Reading time: 2 Minutes approx. – 03.06.2020
Toposens, the first company in the world that brought 3D ultrasonic technology to the market, has received €2.5M from the European Union Horizon 2020 Program. The money will help the startup to develop 3D ultrasonic technology specifically for the
autonomous driving market.
Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe’s global competitiveness. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries, and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market. The fund supports different categories such as industrial, societal, and scientific challenges.
“We are very proud that we have received the Horizon 2020 funding. Together with our recent investment round, we are now in a very good position to successfully introduce our technology to the mass market in the foreseeable future.” – Tobias Bahnemann, CEO of Toposens.
Toposens will use the additional funding to enhance their current 3D ultrasonic technology for the automotive market. The reception of the funding is linked to certain development milestones over a period of two years. These include obtaining various certifications for the sensor such as an IP rating for waterproofness, prove sensor functionality in two pilot test cases, and completing the B-sample phase regarding automotive standards.
In the future, the sensor is intended to complement existing sensor solutions and play a key role in the automotive sector. The main goal is to improve the close-range detection of the vehicle and support autonomous driving functions such as ADAS.
While existing sensor technologies mostly focuses on covering far distances, the immediate environment around a car (0 – 5 m) is often left out of the discussion. That is where the 3D sensor startup Toposens comes into play. Toposens developed the first 3D ultrasound sensor worldwide. The sensor uses the principle of echolocation, like a bat, to perceive its environment in 3D in real-time. The sensor is targeted towards covering the near-field environment (0 – 5 m) of autonomous vehicles. It is small, robust against external influences provides a lean and simple data stream, and is inexpensive to produce. Without a doubt, Toposens newest “Automotive Dev Kit” yields a huge step towards improved near-field perception for both current vehicle generations as well as autonomous moving vehicles!
