Tier IV aims to deploy Autoware, open-source software for self-driving technology, in real products and services
Tier IV, an open source self-driving startup based in Japan, has raised over $100 million in total in a Series A funding round.
The four-year-old company plans to use the funding to commercialize self-driving technology in private areas, depopulated areas and urban areas.
The fresh funding will also enable Tier IV to become a global platform company and scale out its self-driving business.
The round was led by Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc., the Japanese major P&C insurance company, with participation from existing investors, Yamaha Motor Co. and other investors.
Autoware Foundation
Tier IV led the development of Autoware, the world’s first “all-in-one” open-source software for self-driving technology. Tier IV and its partner companies, Apex.AI and Linaro 96Boards, launched the Autoware Foundation in December 2018 in order to deploy Autoware in real products and services.
“Tier IV has a mission to embody disruptive creation and creative disruption with self-driving technology. We have derived a solid software platform and successfully integrated it with real vehicles. It is time to step forward to real services, embracing functional safety and risk management,” says Shinpei Kato, Founder of Tier IV and the chairman of the Board of the Autoware Foundation.
Field operational tests of self-driving vehicles powered by Tier IV have been successfully conducted in more than 60 regions in Japan and overseas.
Inputs: TechStartups
