- General
- June 21, 2019
- 6 minutes read
Uber Said To Be Eyeing Acquisition Of Mighty AI
An Uber self-driving vehicle image: Uber According to a piece from The Information, Uber has held recent talks to acquire Mighty…
 |
| An Uber self-driving vehicle
image: Uber
|
According to a piece from The Information, Uber has held recent talks to acquire Mighty AI (formerly Spare5), a Seattle based startup that develops data used by self-driving vehicle operators to train their computer vision algorithms to help identify people and objects on the road. Mighty AI is backed by the likes of Intel Capital, GV, NEA and the Foundry Group.
Fresh off $1 billion in funding, Uber ATG may be looking to acquire Mighty AI to bolster its autonomous vehicle operations by aiding its vehicles to identify people and objects better. Uber was previously involved in a fatal autonomous vehicle accident that left one dead. The incident was due to an error in identifying the woman who was hit while walking her bicycle across the street at night, signifying the importance of object recognition in the use of self-driving cars.
 |
| A depiction of Mighty AI’s computer vision training data
image: Mighty AI
|
Uber looking to acquire Mighty AI may also be another sign of a possible upheaval in the self-driving industry, where companies have collectively raised billions of dollars in funding to take on similar problems. Acquisitions and mergers may be a way to streamline operations in an industry where so many companies tackle the same issues.
Also in the self-driving industry, Drive.ai — a startup last valued at roughly $200 million — was reportedly being courted by Apple to boost the Cupertino-based company’s self-driving talent. This is in addition to other recent acquisitions and partnerships in the self-driving space. To name a few, Aurora acquired lidar company Blackmore, Volvo has partnered with Nvidia to develop self-driving trucks, Intel’s Mobileye has said it aims to launch a commercial robo-cab service in Israel by next year.
More on Acquisitions:
