ON Semiconductor and Pony.ai collaboration on next-gen image sensing and processing technologies for autonomous vehicles

ON Semiconductor, driving energy efficient innovations, and Pony.ai, a leading autonomous driving technology company, announced today that they will collaborate on developing next-generation image sensing and processing technologies for machine vision to enhance the reliability and scalability of mass-produced autonomous vehicles.

Pony.ai is working to revolutionize the future of transportation by building safe and reliable technology for autonomous mobility. Since late 2018, Pony.ai has pioneered autonomous mobility deployment to benefit people in both the US and China. Pony.ai is the first company to roll out daily robotaxi operation in China, starting in the city of Guangzhou in December 2018. In collaboration with Hyundai and Via, the company is also the first to launch and offer a robotaxi service to the general public in California, which has been operating in Irvine since November 2019.

“The camera is a critical sensing component for autonomous vehicles. Image sensors and processors in cameras today are primarily built for human vision, but could potentially generate significantly more information for machine learning applications, such as autonomous driving,” said Leo Wang, Pony.ai’s VP of Engineering and GM of its U.S. Headquarters. “Combining ON’s unmatched expertise in image sensing and processing with Pony.ai’s deep autonomous driving vehicle knowledge, we will work towards elevating the perception performance of autonomous vehicles and accelerating the industrialization of self-driving technologies.”

ON Semiconductor has developed a leading position in the automotive sector through its innovative products and solutions in imaging, radar, LiDAR and ultrasonic sensing. The company is unique in that it offers all four sensor modalities key to autonomous driving’s perception systems. Pony.ai is leveraging ON’s image sensing and processing chips to capture and process a large amount of camera data everyday with its global autonomous fleet. Utilizing data-driven algorithms, the next-generation image sensing and processing models could maximize information from cameras and vastly expand the perception capabilities of autonomous vehicles.

“We are thrilled by the promise and potential of collaborating with Pony.ai on autonomous vehicles for robotaxi fleets. The development, realization and evolution of systems like Pony.ai’s autonomous driving solution requires engineering and technical expertise in intelligent sensing.” Ross Jatou, VP and GM of the Automotive Solutions Division in the Intelligent Sensing Group at ON Semiconductor said, “Combining ON’s deep understanding of image, radar, and lidar sensor modalities with Pony.ai’s pioneering work in autonomous driving, we are able to advance imaging technology through artificial intelligence and realize the benefits of autonomous driving technology.”

Image – Courtesy of Pony.ai, 2021