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Metamoto named as finalists for the “Most Exciting Start-Up” category at the AutoSens Awards 2018. They are in the running to claim the crown along with Hailo Tech, Arbe Robotics, May Mobility, AEye and Ouster. A big idea, a dynamic proposition, a brave business model or a firebrand leader – the Most Exciting Start-up award recognises the panel’s view of the most complete package, the genuine intent to create a business, change the world and be known as a force for change in a single small company of motivated, passionate people.

Last year’s inaugural AutoSens Awards saw winners including start-ups, individuals and electronics and automotive giants, representing a thriving industrial ecosystem doing some of the most exciting technology development the world has ever seen.

“We are honored to be announced as a finalist in the ‘Most Exciting Start-Up’ category for the 2018 AutoSens Awards,” said Jeff Blackburn, Head of Business Development at Metamoto. “This distinguished nomination reinforces how our scalable simulation offering is greatly accelerating autonomous vehicle deployment for companies across the mobility ecosystem by making them safer and more reliable.”

Since being established in 2016, they’ve witnessed the pursuit of autonomy by major automakers and mobility companies, completely changing how vehicles are designed, developed, trained, and especially tested – in most cases, before official regulation or industry standards exist. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) present a new frontier for the industry, however, autonomous system software is historically complex, not necessarily intuitive and, given the relative infancy of the space, constantly evolving. While government and local regulations about testing AVs on public roads are in a state of flux, simulation offers an immediate means to continuously test the performance of autonomous systems in a risk-free environment.

“Almost every organization working on AV technologies recognizes the need to adopt a more structured approach to software development and greater use of simulation. Metamoto’s ability to provide large-scale AV simulation capabilities that are easily incorporated into existing software development processes and not currently available to most of the entities working in the AV space is what makes them stand out.” stated Robert Stead, Director of the AutoSens Awards.

They also claim to do so at an entry price point lower than other legacy products on the market. The company’s offering is designed to give every player in the mobility space – not just the largest, a tool to train and test their automated vehicle in a virtual world ensuring safe deployment in the real world.

Metamoto launched its highly anticipated Simulation as a Service offering in August 2018, enabling companies working on autonomous technology to validate AV software safely in the virtual world before they hit public roads. Their breakthrough technology includes:

• Director– A scalable, parameterized simulator allowing for tests to run across a spectrum of environmental and hardware parameters and unique edge cases.
• Designer– A first-of-its-kind tool to custom build parameterized scenarios via a visual editor. Scenarios define the training and testing behaviors of traffic, pedestrians, sensor configurations, etc. within a virtual scene.
• Analyzer– A comprehensive analysis tool to assess how a vehicle performed in specific simulations. This tool is often referenced as an autonomous systems debugger.

Key features of the offering include:

• Scalability – The ability to run millions of tests in a single cycle, ultimately driving billions of virtual test miles, to identify isolated outcomes, performance boundaries and system tolerances.
• Parameterization – Simulations are executable across a spectrum of environmental (weather, traffic, road conditions, pedestrians, etc.) and hardware (vehicle properties, sensor placement, latency, sensor settings, etc.) parameters.
• Continuous test and integration – On-demand simulation is inserted into the AV product lifecycle with tools like Jenkins and Jira, allowing for seamless regression testing, agile workflows, version control and more, every time vehicle software, sensors and/or infrastructure change.
• Accurate simulation – Precise, unified simulation of a variety of sensors is available including LiDAR, camera, radar, GPS, IMU and others.
• Interoperability – Metamoto’s offering is delivered as an add-on to other mobility solutions. For example, Metamoto and Renovo recently announced a partnership to make simulation solutions available to Renovo’s AWare ecosystem.

This announcement followed Metamoto’s successful early engagement program, which included participating OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, transportation network companies (TNCs), and stack, sensor and other technology providers. Metamoto also recently commenced its Series A fundraising having previously concluded a successful $2M seed round fundraise in July 2017.

“When we started Metamoto in 2016, we saw a huge market opportunity for scalable simulation technology that offered an immediate means to continuously test the performance of autonomous systems in a risk-free environment,” said Chad Partridge, CEO of Metamoto. “It’s truly exciting seeing our company and simulation offering being recognized as a force for change in the automotive simulation and testing sector.”

Congratulations again to Metamoto, and good luck! Join the celebrations at the AutoSens Awards and see who will be crowned the winner along with silver awards of the “Most Exciting Start-Up” category on 19 September at the Atomium, Brussels. Book tickets here >>