indie Semiconductor and Ficosa partner on auto camera tech
US-based indie Semiconductor has teamed up with Spain's Ficosa to develop automotive camera solutions deploying neural network-based artificial intelligence processing.
The partners say they will leverage Ficosa’s expertise as a high-volume vision solution supplier and indie’s proprietary vision processing technology. They believe the combination can deliver breakthrough in-camera object detection performance. They expect to embed their tech into smart camera solutions from next year.
Demand for object detection tech is rising thanks to regulation aimed at boosting protection for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. As a result, automakers are demanding scalable camera-based Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that actively detect pedestrians.
According to S&P Global, shipments of surround view and park assist camera electronic control units (ECUs) are projected to grow from 134 million units in 2023 to 240 million units by 2033.
“indie is thrilled to partner with Ficosa” said Abhay Rai, EVP and GM of indie’s Vision Business Unit. “The camera solutions of today either deploy classical vision algorithms, with limited detection performance across challenging environmental conditions, or rely upon power-hungry host processing for object detection. indie’s NN-based AI vision solutions can enable improved detection with ultra-low power in a compact form factor for these real-world edge sensing scenarios. As a result, Ficosa and indie are well positioned to capitalize on the rapid proliferation of smart cameras solutions around the vehicle.”
