UPDATED 20:18 EDT / OCTOBER 01 2019

EMERGING TECH

Tesla buys computer vision startup DeepScale

Electric car maker Tesla Inc. has reportedly acquired a computer vision startup called DeepScale Inc. whose technology could help it build completely driverless vehicles.

The report from CNBC today cited unnamed sources as saying the transaction is a done deal, and although no price was disclosed, one analyst, Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research, pegged it at $40 million.

DeepScale Chief Executive Officer Forrest Iandola later confirmed the deal on LinkedIn, updating his profile there to reflect that he is now a “senior staff machine learning scientist” at the Palo Alto-based automotive company.

“I joined the Tesla Autopilot team this week,” he wrote. “I am looking forward to working with some of the brightest minds in deep learning and autonomous driving.”

Iandola would appear to be one of the brightest minds in deep learning himself, having earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley. There, he reportedly helped to design deep neural nets that can run on low-powered mobile devices.

DeepScale has built something similar, namely a “very accurate computer vision” system that works with the low-wattage computer chips that are standard in most cars. The system is said to use sensors, mapping, planning and control systems to help cars make sense of what’s going on around them.

CNBC said the technology could help Tesla build cars with “advanced driver-assistance systems” that would enable owners to rent out their vehicles as “robotaxis,” similar to Uber but without drivers.

More immediately, the acquisition fills a gap in Tesla’s Autopilot division, whose leader Stuart Bowers and 11 others left in May.

Charles King of Pund-IT Inc. told SiliconANGLE that DeepScale’s team should be able to fill some of those vacant positions but said it’s too early to say if its technology is the missing piece of the puzzle Tesla needs to fulfill its driverless car vision.

“It seems doubtful, mainly because Elon Musk and the company’s optimism about its approach seems more than a bit overblown and hasn’t attracted a lot of love outside of Tesla,” King said. “But if Musk and Deep Scale can deliver, it could put the company into a formidable leadership position in autonomous vehicle development. That, in turn, would reduce the heat Tesla is feeling from bigger competitors that are catching up very quickly in EV development and sales.”

Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy was also skeptical, saying Tesla seems to be constantly redefining what it will take for its cars to go fully autonomous.

“First it was Mobileye, then Nvidia, then custom chips and now DeepScale,” Moorhead said. “I’m convinced the company is searching for an answer and this is the latest chapter.”

On the other hand, Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. was more optimistic. He told SiliconANGLE there’s certainly no shame in Tesla buying DeepScale as it’s in a hard fought race with numerous other car manufacturers to create a true and reliable self-driving vehicle.

“The driver is the number one source of car accidents, and so the bar is set high for all participants,” Mueller said. “Low wattage video and sensor management like DeepScale offers is a key ingredient in the overall picture. So for now congrats to Tesla. We will see where this puts them in the self-driving car race in a few quarters.”

DeepScale had previously raised $18 million in funding, including $15 million in a Series A round led by Point72 and next47 and a $3 million seed round.

Image: DeepScale

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