Bluespace.ai, a San Jose-based autonomous driving startup, is looking to develop a software system for autonomous mass transit fleets in Seoul and its surrounding metropolitan area.
The startup, established in California's Silicon Valley in April of last year, has developed software systems for high-occupancy autonomous vehicles, such as buses, in various US regions, including Minnesota. The company is now seeking opportunities in overseas markets.
“Seoul and its surrounding areas have vast and systemic bus networks. So, the city is one of the best places for autonomous mass transit systems. We want to bring our technology to Seoul,” Christine Moon, president and chief operating officer of Bluespace.ai, told The Korea Economic Daily in a recent interview.
Christine Moon, co-founder & COO of Bluespace.ai She said she is meeting with Korean bus operators to discuss business opportunities in the Seoul metropolitan area. Bluespace.ai is already working with Yonsei University on autonomous driving research and development.
Moon, the co-founder of the startup, said the company’s autonomous vehicle (AV) software uses an innovative approach to perception and motion planning to allow full-size vehicles to travel safely on public roads.
“Our mission is to provide affordable and practical AV solutions that can be integrated with multimodal public transit services at road speed,” she said.
Moon said Bluespace.ai is developing a system that offers verifiably safe autonomous vehicle operations that can be achieved without undergoing the millions of miles of testing needed by current-generation AVs.
LEVEL 5 FULL SELF-DRIVING
“Our system does not excessively depend on deep learning, which is costly because it requires a huge amount of data. Also, we don't believe level 5 full autonomous driving with no human involvement is possible with deep learning technology,” she said.
Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that uses artificial neural networks to mimic the complex functioning of the human brain.
KT tests autonomous bus, 5G services on Jeju Island in October, 2020. Bluespace.ai, jointly run with her partner, Joel Pazhayampallil, its co-founder & CEO, raised $3.5 million in seed funding last December to bring its AV technology to the US and growing markets.
The company’s funding round was led by Fusion Fund, with other investors including YouTube co-founder Steve Chen; UMC, the Taiwanese semiconductor foundry; Korea’s Kakao Ventures; GDP Ventures; Atinum; Wasabi Ventures; Blue Ivy Ventures; Plug n Play; and SLV Capital.
Previously, Moon and Pazhayampallil jointly launched Drive.ai, a self-driving startup, and later sold the company to Apple Inc.
Moon also worked at global tech giant Google and Dropbox Inc.
Write to Hanjong Choi in Seoul and Nam-Young Kim in Las Vegas at onebell@hankyung.com In-Soo Nam edited this article.
We use cookies to provide the best user experience. By continuing to browse this website, you will be considered to accept cookies. Please review our Privacy Policy to learn our cookie policy.
