With HD radar, Arbe Robotics pits price vs. pride

By Junko Yoshida and Jenn Baljko for the Ojo & Yoshida Report – Arbe Robotics, a 2015 Israeli startup that went public this month through a SPAC, seemed to have a lot going for it in recent years. Today, it might be at a crossroads.

Arbe Robotics, a 2015 Israeli startup that went public this month through a SPAC (special-purpose acquisition team), seemed to have a lot going for it in recent years. Today, it might be at a crossroads. Arbe’s overreliance on its very-high-performance 4D imaging radar could deter it from securing a spot in a more immediate automotive market, one where Tier 1s demand designs that rely on “good enough” solutions.

Among crème de la crème radar chip companies, Arbe Robotics is high on the list. Its ultra-high-definition 4D chips boast more than 2,000 virtual channels, with resolution unmatched by rival radar suppliers.

To date, Arbe has staked its future on its innovative ultra-high-performance 4D chip prowess. If successful, the combination of its technical edge and its vision for the future of safe autonomous driving could help eliminate the use of lidar in autonomous vehicles (AVs) and/or high-end advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

Arbe today is at a crossroads, however.  It may have to choose between adhering to its lofty technical goals, or softening those goals to secure its financial growth.

There’s no question that the company has laid the technological paving stones for safe autonomous driving. Consider its achievements in that arena: Besides its RF front-end chipset, Arbe also designed a radar-processing ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) and proprietary radar signal processors. Developed by an internal semiconductor design team, these ASICs and DSPs (digital signal processors) can process massive amounts of raw data from Arbe’s 4D radars, in real time. In addition, Arbe determined early on that off-the-shelf, general-purpose processors or field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) would hinder the proliferation of 4D imaging radars because they force Tier 1s and OEMs to use heavy-duty processors that cost more and use more power… Full article