Interview Timeline
00:04 The high potential of PreAct's near-field sensing market
PreAct Technologies is bringing software-defined, near-field lidars to replace ultrasonics in ADAS. The company is working with ZF, Sony and Qualcomm, among other suppliers.
Paul Drysch, the Founder and CEO says, “PreAct’s market is already a $30 billion a year. But existing technologies are holding back the industry fromreaching self-driving functionality. We want to replace other sensors with ourshort range lidar that could enable better functionality and convenience at thesame cost”.
“We designed our LIDAR to be as cheap as possible to compete with the cost of ultrasonics and short-range radars. It’s also the only software-definable LIDAR out there”, Paul Drynch, CEO, PreAct
PreAct was founded in 2018 and it is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. We spoke to Paul Drysch, Founder & CEO about:
- Why the market for near-field sensing matters now more than ever for ADAS & Automated Driving
- How PreAct’s short-range lidar can achieve superior performance for safety without a cost premium
- Software-definable flash lidar for robotics, smart cities, ADAS & auto insurance
- Go-to-market strategy, partnership with major Tier-1 and milestones
PreAct Technologies closed a $20 M Series B Round in April 2023 to advance its R&D plans in software-definable flash Lidar. The company claims they will be profitable next year.
The time of the announcement is crucial to provide a positive note in the turbulent landscape, amid the consolidation of Lidar ecosystem and shrinking funding. Funding raised by early stage start-ups working on Autonomous Driving technologies shrunk to $2 Billion in 2022, from $3.5 Billion in 2021.
The company acquired an AI computer vision company Gestoos AI, and established its European HQ in Barcelona. Europe presents an attractive opportunity for their products because of the requirements for non-identifiable data specially for use cases in supply chain, robotics, logistics and smart cities.
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