Israeli startup Innoviz Technologies Inc. has raised an additional $8 million in funding as an extension of its Series B round first announced in September.

The additional funding for the round comes from Samsung Catalyst, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. early stage venture capital fund, and SoftBank Ventures Korea, the Korean VC arm of Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Group Corp.

Founded in 2016, Innoviz develops technologies for autonomous driving that includes smart 3D sensing, sensor fusion and accurate mapping and localization. The company’s first product to market, now scheduled to be released in early 2019, is a high-definition solid-state LiDAR that the company claim to deliver superior performance at a significantly lower cost and smaller size than existing solutions.

The key to the technology is said to be more precise sensing using deep learning to turn 3D vision into critical driving insights. In combination with high-definition mapping and simultaneous localization and mapping, known as SLAM, the company claims that its LiDAR delivers “superior object detection and classification necessary to move the industry towards mass commercialization.”

“We were excited to see such a high level of interest in our Series B round from such an impressive list of top-tier investors and strategic partners,” said Omer Keilaf, co-founder and chief executive officer of Innoviz, said in a statement. “With our LiDAR solutions moving into mass production and getting ready to begin shipping in early 2018, the backing from companies such as Samsung, SoftBank Ventures Korea and all the rest will enable us to scale our operations as we focus on not only LiDAR but the entire autonomous vehicle stack.”

Including the Series B funding extension, Innoviz has raised $82 million to date. The company previously said that it intended to use the new funding to increase its headcount and to take its technology into mass production.

Image: Innoviz