Applied Intuition

Last updated
Applied Intuition
Company type Private
Industry Computer Software
Founded2017;8 years ago (2017)
Founders
Headquarters Mountain View, California, U.S.
Number of employees
201-500 (2024) [1]
Website www.appliedintuition.com

Applied Intuition is an American software company specializing in building artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and advanced software for vehicle manufacturers. [2] Founded in 2017 and based in Mountain View, California, Applied Intuition develops tools for the development, testing, and deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs) [3] and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) [2] technologies in various industries, including automotive, trucking, [2] defense, [4] agriculture, [5] construction, [6] and mining. [3] The company leverages AI technology to provide automakers and other entities with solutions to simulate driving scenarios in the development of autonomous systems. [2] [7] .

Contents

Applied Intuition products are used by 18 of the leading 20 global automakers. In addition to automotive manufacturers, Applied Intuition has worked with companies developing self-driving trucks, self-driving taxis, and robots for use in warehouses. [8]

In 2024 Applied Intuition completed a $250 million Series E funding round and a subsequent $300 million secondary offering, and achieved a valuation of $6 billion. [3] [9] Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity Investments, Kleiner Perkins, Microsoft's venture capital arm M12, and Porsche Investments Management. [4] [9] [10] With the investment by Andreessen Horowitz, Marc Andreessen joined the Applied Intuition board. [11]

History

Applied Intuition was co-founded by Qasar Younis, a former chief operating officer at Y Combinator [12] and group product manager at Google, and Peter Ludwig, a former Google product manager and software engineer. [5] [13]

The company's first product was a motion simulator to enable AV developers to simulate, instead of road-test, certain problems that arose during the AV development process. It later created software tools intended to improve the process of developing autonomous vehicles. [5] The company's primary offerings include a suite of simulation and testing software that enables vehicle manufacturers to create and refine AV systems by analyzing capabilities such as perception systems, vehicle dynamics, and overall software integration. [14] This development environment enables manufacturers to simulate driving scenarios to assess safety and functionality before deploying vehicles on actual roads. [13]

In June 2024, Applied Intuition announced an off-road autonomy stack, a software set designed to enable autonomous systems to navigate complex, unstructured terrains. This advanced technology integrates various sensors and algorithms to support off-road operations in industries such as mining, agriculture, and defense. [2]

Applied Intuition has partnered with leading automotive manufacturers, including Porsche and Audi, to develop next-generation ADAS offerings. Porsche announced in March 2024 it is partnering with Applied Intuition to jointly develop different fields of automotive software. In April 2024 Applied Intuition and Audi began partnering to develop automated driving systems that enhance vehicle autonomy and safety. [15] In August 2024 Applied Intuition entered into partnership with truck manufacturer Isuzu Motors to jointly develop self-driving trucks, solidifying Isuzu's plans to jointly develop self-driving trucks in support of Isuzu's plans for trucks and buses with Level 4 automation, the capability to handle most driving situations without human intervention. [16]

In 2025, Bloomberg named Applied Intuition to its list of The 10 Defense Tech Startups to Watch in 2025. [17]

Acquisitions

In 2022 Applied Intuition acquired Mechanical Simulation Corp., a company known for its CarSim software, which is used by major automakers for simulating real-world vehicle dynamics. Mechanical Simulation also made products that support simulation for trucks, motorcycles, and powertrains. [18]

In 2023, the company acquired SceneBox, a machine learning (ML) data management and operations platform developed by Caliber Data Labs, aimed at enhancing the training of ML models through a data-centric approach. [19]

Also in 2023, Applied Intuition acquired autonomous trucking company Embark Trucks, a company specializing in autonomous trucking technology, for approximately $71 million. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vehicular automation</span> Automation for various purposes of vehicles

Vehicular automation is the use of technology to assist or replace the operator of a vehicle such as a car, truck, aircraft, rocket, military vehicle, or boat. Assisted vehicles are semi-autonomous, whereas vehicles that can travel without a human operator are autonomous. The degree of autonomy may be subject to various constraints such as conditions. Autonomy is enabled by advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) of varying capacity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waymo</span> Autonomous car technology company

Waymo LLC, formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, is an American autonomous driving technology company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.

AH Capital Management, LLC is an American privately held venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of April 2023, Andreessen Horowitz ranks first on the list of venture capital firms by assets under management, with $42 billion as of May 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobileye</span> Israeli information technology company

Mobileye Global Inc. is a United States-domiciled, Israel-headquartered autonomous driving company. It is developing self-driving technologies and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) including cameras, computer chips, and software. Mobileye was acquired by Intel in 2017 and went public again in 2022.

From 2014 until 2024, Apple undertook a research and development effort to develop an electric and self-driving car, codenamed "Project Titan". Apple never openly discussed any of its automotive research, but around 5,000 employees were reported to be working on the project as of 2018. In May 2018, Apple reportedly partnered with Volkswagen to produce an autonomous employee shuttle van based on the T6 Transporter commercial vehicle platform. In August 2018, the BBC reported that Apple had 66 road-registered driverless cars, with 111 drivers registered to operate those cars. In 2020, it was believed that Apple was still working on self-driving related hardware, software and service as a potential product, instead of actual Apple-branded cars. In December 2020, Reuters reported that Apple was planning on a possible launch date of 2024, but analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed it would not be launched before 2025 and might not be launched until 2028 or later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robotaxi</span> Taxi without a human driver

A robotaxi, also known as robot taxi, robo-taxi, self-driving taxi or driverless taxi, is an autonomous car operated for a ridesharing company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qasar Younis</span> American businessman

Qasar Younis is a Pakistani American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, and the CEO of Applied Intuition, a technology company that builds AI and advanced software for vehicle manufactures. Prior to Applied Intuition, he was the COO of Y Combinator during Sam Altman’s tenure as President. He was also the co-founder and CEO of Talkbin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NuTonomy</span> Technology startup company

NuTonomy was an MIT spin-off technology startup company that made software to build self-driving cars and autonomous mobile robots. The company was founded in 2013. In August 2016, it launched its robo-taxi service in Singapore. In October 2017, Delphi Automotive purchased the company, which then became part of the Motional autonomous driving joint venture between Aptiv and Hyundai Motor Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argo AI</span> Autonomous driving technology company

Argo AI LLC was an autonomous driving technology company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was co-founded in 2016 by Bryan Salesky and Peter Rander, veterans of the Google and Uber automated driving programs. Argo AI was an independent company that built software, hardware, maps, and cloud-support infrastructure to power self-driving vehicles. Argo was mostly backed by Ford Motor Co. (2017) and the Volkswagen Group (2020). At its peak, the company was valued at $7 billion.

Torc Robotics (Torc), an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck, is an American autonomous truck company headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, with operations in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Austin, Texas; and Stuttgart, Germany. Torc is testing autonomous trucks in Virginia, New Mexico, and Texas and is taking a pure play approach to commercialization – focusing at first on one platform in one region.

aiMotive is an autonomous vehicle technology company. The company aims to work with automotive manufacturers and Tier1s to enable automated technologies. aiMotive describes its approach as "vision-first", a system that primarily relies on cameras and artificial intelligence to detect its surroundings. The technology is designed to be implemented by automobile manufacturers to create autonomous vehicles, which can operate in all conditions and locations. In September 2017, PSA Group teamed up with AImotive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-driving truck</span> Type of autonomous vehicle

A self-driving truck, also known as an autonomous truck or robo-truck, is an application of self-driving technology aiming to create trucks that can operate without human input. Alongside light, medium, and heavy-duty trucks, many companies are developing self-driving technology in semi trucks to automate highway driving in the delivery process.

Nuro, Inc. is an American robotics company based in Mountain View, California. Founded by Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson, Nuro develops autonomous delivery vehicles and is the first company to receive an autonomous exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

DeepMap Inc. is a Palo Alto, California-based software company that develops high definition (HD) maps for self-driving vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pony.ai</span> Autonomous vehicle technology company

Pony AI Inc. is a autonomous vehicle technology company co-located in Silicon Valley, Beijing, and Guangzhou.

Aurora Innovation, Inc., doing business as Aurora, is a self-driving vehicle technology company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Aurora has developed the Aurora Driver, a computer system that can be integrated into cars for autonomous driving. Aurora was co-founded by Chris Urmson, the former chief technology officer of Google/Alphabet Inc.'s self-driving team, which became known as Waymo, as well as by Sterling Anderson, former head of Tesla Autopilot, and Drew Bagnell, former head of Uber's autonomy and perception team.

Plus is an American autonomous driving technology company based in Santa Clara, California. The company develops Level 4 autonomous driving technology for commercial freight trucks. In 2019, the company completed the first cross-country driverless freight delivery in the U.S. The company's self-driving system began to be used commercially in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TuSimple</span> Autonomous trucking company

TuSimple Holdings, Inc. is a Chinese autonomous trucking company, based in San Diego, California, with offices in Arizona, Texas, and China. It was founded in 2015 by Xiaodi Hou and Mo Chen. In December 2023, the company announced that it would be closing its U.S. business and moving to China.

Aeva Technologies, Inc. is a publicly traded American corporation specializing in sensing hardware and perception software, including LiDAR, headquartered in Mountain View, California. Aeva makes sensing and perception tools for vehicular automation, metrology, and industrial automation.

Gatik is an autonomous trucking and delivery company that operates in the United States and Canada. The company creates Level 4 autonomous trucking technology for vehicles making middle mile commercial deliveries.

References

  1. ↑ "Applied Intuition valued at $6 billion in new funding round". Automotive News. March 12, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Applied Intuition debuts AI software helping autonomous systems navigate across all terrains". VentureBeat. 2024-06-17. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  3. 1 2 3 "Vehicle software maker Applied Intuition raises $250 mln from Porsche, others". Reuters. 2024-03-12. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  4. 1 2 "Applied Intuition lands $6B valuation for AI-powered autonomous vehicle software". TechCrunch. 2024-03-12. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  5. 1 2 3 "Applied Intuition: Powering Autonomy". Harvard Business School. 2024-02-12. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  6. ↑ "Applied Intuition valued at $6 billion in new funding round". Automotive News. 2024-03-12. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  7. ↑ "Applied Intuition Raises $175 Million for Automotive Software Tools". Bloomberg. 2021-11-11. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  8. ↑ "Applied Intuition Reaches $1.25 Billion Valuation In New Funding For Its Autonomous Vehicle Testing Software". Forbes. 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  9. 1 2 "Startup Applied Intuition Closes on $300 Million Secondary Deal". Bloomberg. 2024-07-25. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  10. ↑ "Applied Intuition, Whose Software Tests Self-Driving Cars, Grabs $40 Million". Wall Street Journal. 2019-09-12. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  11. ↑ "How Self-Driving Cars Can Get Past the Learning Permit Stage, Without Any Risk". Bloomberg. 2018-09-12. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  12. ↑ "Inside Silicon Valley's most grueling ritual: Raising cash". Washington Post. 2016-08-29. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  13. 1 2 "Applied Intuition raises $40 million for autonomous vehicle simulation tools". VentureBeat. 2019-09-12. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  14. ↑ "Applied Intuition closes $300M secondary four months after raising $250M". TechCrunch. 2024-07-25. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  15. ↑ "Audi follows Porsche to Applied Intuition". Automobilewoche (in German). 2024-04-23. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  16. ↑ "Isuzu to develop self-driving trucks with U.S. startup". Nikkei Asia. 2024-08-27. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  17. ↑ "The 10 Defense Tech Startups to Watch in 2025". Bloomberg. 16 January 2025. Retrieved 2025-01-16.
  18. ↑ "Software tools provider Applied Intuition buys company behind CarSim". Automotive News. 2022-03-14. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  19. ↑ "Applied Intuition acquires SceneBox platform to strengthen machine learning data operations". ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International. 2023-03-21. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  20. ↑ "Applied Intuition to buy autonomous trucking SPAC Embark for $71M". TechCrunch. 2023-05-25. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.