Aeva – Company Profile

Aeva is one of the leading innovators, focused on building advanced sensing and perception equipment based on Lidar technology. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California. While Aeva’s platform can find application in various areas, it will primarily focus on autonomous vehicles. Aeva has huge potential to unlock in coming years, as autonomous vehicles will become quite commonplace over the next few decades.

One of the unique aspects about Aeva’s Lidar-based sensing and perception platform is that it can measure distance and also the instant velocity. Lidar is a technology wherein laser is used to detect distance. For autonomous vehicles, it creates a 3D map of surroundings, which is then interpreted by the car’s autonomous driving system.

Aeva’s Lidar system is more advanced, as it can detect instant velocity without losing range. It can differentiate between moving objects and non-moving objects. It has the ability to detect vehicles 500 meters away and pedestrians around 350 meters away. This early detection allows the car’s autonomous tech more time to respond to emerging variables. In effect, it makes autonomous vehicles a lot safer.

Moreover, it also ensures that there’s no interference from things like other sensors or the sun. Due to its advanced nature, Aeva has chosen to describe their sensing system as 4D Lidar. Accurate and failsafe sensing and perception system such as those developed by Aeva will be crucial in bringing autonomous vehicles to mainstream population and for commercial use.

History

The idea for Aeva came to its founders when they noticed the various issues related to autonomous vehicles. While significant advancements have been made in this space, it still remains susceptible to errors. A simple assessment was that autonomous cars continue to be involved in accidents. This and other issues prompted the founders to work on a better sensing and perception technology for vehicles. Aeva was launched subsequently in 2017. One of the key advantages of Aeva sensing platform is that it can work efficiently even in dark conditions.

Funding

Aeva has received investments worth $368.5 million via 4 rounds of funding. Some key investors include Sylebra Capital, Canaan Partners and Lux Capital. Aeva also generated funds via an IPO in 2021. Post the IPO, Aeva entered the Unicorn club after its valuation crossed $1 billion.

Acquisitions

Aeva had acquired Interprivate in 2021. The company primarily functions as an investment agency.

Competitors

Aeva competes with other firms such as Luminar, Velodyne Lidar, Ouster, Innoviz Technologies, Waymo and TuSimple.

About the founders

Aeva was founded by former Apple engineers, Soroush Salehian and Mina Rezk. Soroush Salehian currently serves as the CEO of Aeva. He had studied at Stanford University. He had earlier worked with organizations such as New Frontiers Design, NASA, Stanford Space Systems, and BlueLibris. Co-founder Mina Rezk currently serves as the CTO of Aeva. He had studied at George Mason University. He had earlier worked at Nikon Metrology and Apple.