Indie Semiconductor and SiLC Technologies Form Strategic Technology Partnership to Deliver World-Class FMCW LiDAR Solution
ALISO VIEJO and MONROVIA, Calif., August 3, 2023 – indie Semiconductor (Nasdaq: INDI), an Autotech solutions innovator, and SiLC Technologies, Inc (SiLC), a leader in silicon photonics innovation, have entered into a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) partnership that enables coherent detection-based LiDAR platforms for next-generation sensing applications, including driver assistance, autonomous mobility, robotics and industrial automation. This partnership will deliver fully integrated vision system platforms deploying frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) detection, redefining benchmarks for rapidly emerging LiDAR applications.
FMCW-based LiDAR delivers multiple real-world benefits compared to direct detection-based Time of Flight (TOF) solutions, including long-range with high precision, interference immunity, per-point instantaneous velocity and motion measurement. This ground-breaking partnership combines award-winning products from indie and SiLC into reference platforms that enable an order of magnitude improvement in sensing performance, manufacturability, power consumption, form factor and cost relative to competing systems.
“indie is excited to partner with SiLC to bring the processing innovation from Surya to FMCW LiDAR, offering a breakthrough reference design,” said Chet Babla, senior vice president, strategic marketing at indie Semiconductor. “By combining the software-defined high-performance – but low power – analog and digital processing and system control capabilities of Surya™, coupled with SiLC’s Eyeonic™ vision solution, system integrators and OEMs are enabled with 4D FMCW imaging for mass market deployment into multiple applications.”
Ralf Muenster, vice president, business development and marketing at SiLC added, “We are excited to partner with indie to bring industry-leading FMCW-based LiDAR platforms to market. Our state-of-the-art FMCW LiDAR sensor features the highest integration, resolution, precision, and longest range of any other competing approach, while remaining the only commercially available solution to offer polarization information.”
Driven by strong market demand, reference platforms featuring Surya™ and Eyeonic™ have already been deployed and are being evaluated by select lead automotive, tier one and industrial OEMs, and both indie and SiLC are actively developing new reference platforms to showcase the scalability and flexibility of their combined technologies.
About indie
indie is empowering the Autotech revolution with next generation automotive semiconductors and software platforms. We focus on developing innovative, high-performance and energy-efficient technology for ADAS, user experience and electrification applications. Our mixed-signal SoCs enable edge sensors spanning Radar, LiDAR, Ultrasound, and Computer Vision, while our embedded system control, power management and interfacing solutions transform the in-cabin experience and accelerate increasingly automated and electrified vehicles. We are an approved vendor to Tier 1 partners and our solutions can be found in marquee automotive OEMs worldwide. Headquartered in Aliso Viejo, CA, indie has design centers and regional support offices across the United States, Canada, Argentina, Scotland, England, Germany, Hungary, Morocco, Israel, Japan, South Korea and China.
About SiLC Technologies
On a mission to enable machines to see like humans, SiLC Technologies is bringing forth its deep expertise in silicon photonics to advance market deployment of FMCW LiDAR solutions. The company’s breakthrough 4D+ Eyeonic Chip integrates all photonics functions needed to enable a coherent vision sensor, offering a tiny footprint while addressing the need for low cost and low power. SiLC’s innovations are targeted to robotics, autonomous vehicles, biometrics, security, industrial automation, and other leading markets.
SiLC was founded in 2018 by silicon photonics industry veterans with decades of commercial product development and manufacturing experience. SiLC’s 4D LiDAR chip has been recognized by Frost & Sullivan as ideally positioned to disrupt the global LiDAR market and the company has been named a Cool Vendor in Silicon Photonics by Gartner. Investors in SiLC include Dell Technology Capital, Sony Innovation Fund by IGV, FLUXUNIT – ams OSRAM Ventures, UMC Capital, Alter Ventures and Epson.
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