Aurora CEO Chris Urmson image: Aurora

Aurora has acquired Montana-based lidar startup Blackmore, joining driverless car companies like GM Cruise and Ford’s Argo which have also acquired lidar startups to build custom solutions for self-driving vehicles. Aurora is making this acquisition months after raising a $530 million round led by Sequoia Capital.

Blackmore is one of many startups that have cropped up in the lidar industry. The lidar market is one with quite much competition, with startups having to compete with better established companies like Velodyne, Luminar, Quanergy, Aeva, Ouster, Innoviz, and more. Most driverless car companies — with exception to Tesla — have said that its vehicles will depend on lidar, entailing the field as a very essential one in the development of autonomous vehicles.

Aurora Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson image: Aurora

One reason for many startups emerging in the lidar industry is a need to build custom solutions for various types of vehicles used by driverless car companies. Many startups are taking various approaches in developing their own lidars. Blackmore’s lidars are based on Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) technology.

With this acquisition, the Blackmore team will be joining Aurora, adding a fourth office located in the state of Montana — far from Silicon Valley where many lidar startups call home — for the company.

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