SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Enlightenment Capital-led investment will enable the company’s commercial division, RR.AI, to scale and provide an end-to-end autonomy solution for transportation and logistics markets.
“This investment reflects our success in developing autonomous solutions for our U.S. government customers, and will provide the resources needed to meet our growing commercial customer demand and the expansion of our commercial efforts,” said Alberto Lacaze, CEO, Robotic Research. “Our long history and experience has enabled us to develop a proven solution that is not only rugged, safe, and reliable, but also versatile and ideal for operating across a variety of environments, weather conditions, and use cases.”
Robotic Research has successfully deployed autonomous and robotics solutions on roadways around the globe as well as in the industry’s harshest, unstructured environments. The company’s vehicle-agnostic autonomy kit, AutoDrive®, has already been integrated in a variety of vehicles including North America’s first automated heavy-duty transit bus, Class 8 trucks, and yard trucks. AutoDrive® can be used on-road, off-road, or in the yard, making it uniquely suited to provide a 360° autonomous driving solution that spans a variety of complex operational design domains (ODDs).
“We believe that autonomous vehicle technology has the potential to reshape how goods and people are moved around,” said Akshay Naheta, Senior Vice President of SoftBank Group Corp and former Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “Robotic Research has a track record of operating in the commercial sector and has built a differentiated autonomy solution by focusing on tangible, revenue-generating opportunities. We are thrilled to be a financial partner and provide resources needed to accelerate the commercialization of Robotic Research’s solutions.”
This is the first strategic equity investment to date by Luminar, a global leader in automotive-grade lidar hardware and software technology. Robotic Research is working alongside Luminar on strategic opportunities to advance autonomy and has selected Luminar as its long-range lidar provider.
UBS Investment Bank acted as financial advisor and placement agent for Robotic Research. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP acted as legal advisor, and Covington & Burling LLP acted as special counsel to Robotic Research.
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Source: Robotic Research
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