Qualcomm’s automotive chip giant is announcing a $10.5 million Series A round led by a private equity firm, with the goal of bringing the technology to market by 2021.
The company, known for its software-based hardware, has been working on a new generation of autonomous driving technology since 2016.
But it was unclear what, if any, form it would take, given the lack of clear specifications.
This round will allow it to focus on making a car that will work with current systems, such as a smartphone, to help make a truly driverless car possible.
Qualcomm’s chip company, DeepMind, announced the round last month.
The company, which is also behind the Google self-driving cars, is looking to accelerate progress in this field, particularly in areas such as safety, driver experience, and cloud computing.
Its goal is to have the technology on the market by 2020, said the company in a statement.
The deal also includes DeepMind’s former cofounder and Chief Executive Officer, Bartsch, and his son, Adam Bartscha.
DeepMind will pay $1.3 billion in cash, with proceeds going to the accelerator, Deep Learning Lab, a $2 billion venture-capital firm.
DeepMind is the first company to be announced in the new round, along with Tesla, and will join a growing list of other companies looking to raise venture capital.
Deep Learning Lab and DeepMind were the first companies to be listed in the deal.
Deep Learning Labs has raised $1 billion and is working on some of the most promising technologies in deep learning, said Jefferies analyst Mike Koehler.
“It’s an extremely ambitious round and it’s an important one for Qualcomm and Deep Learning.”
The Deep Learning Laboratory is focused on solving problems in deep-learning, or machine learning, using deep neural networks, a group of deep learning algorithms that allow for rapid analysis of images.
The new funding will help accelerate Deep Learning labs research in areas like deep learning for cars, Koehl said.
