Applied Intuition’s artificial intelligence self-driving software valued at $6 billion

Self-driving car software company Applied Intuition has raised $250 million in a funding round, valuing the startup at $6 billion as it works to bring more artificial intelligence to the automotive, defense, construction and agriculture sectors. .

The eye-popping funding round is the latest example of investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence. Applied Intuition seems to have found a particular sweet spot for venture capital firms looking for startups with AI products that cut across large industries with huge budgets (defense is a popular area) and seemingly unlimited potential Opportunity.

The Series E round was led by Lux Capital’s Bilal Zuberi, investor Elad Gil and Porsche Investment Management, the sports car maker’s independent venture capital arm. Others participating in the round include Andreessen Horowitz, Mary Meeker’s growth fund Bond, and even Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg. Lux Capital, Elad Gil and Andreessen Horowitz have all led previous funding rounds in Applied Intuition.

Co-founder and CEO Qasar Younis told TechCrunch that the new capital, all equity, will be used to fund “the most ambitious projects we have without overwhelming the company and disrupting our culture.”

Founded in 2017, Applied Intuition develops software that automakers and other companies use to develop self-driving vehicle solutions. Some of that work involves creating simulations that let customers test and retest their perception and vehicle behavior systems, or helping them manage the vast amounts of data involved in developing self-driving cars.

“When they think, ‘I have this software or artificial intelligence problem,’ we generally want them to think about us,” Younis said. “It’s like we want to be the first one to call.”

This approach appears to be successful: the company claims to work with “18 of the world’s 20 automakers,” including General Motors (Younis worked at GM before working at Google and Y Combinator), Toyota and Volkswagen cars, as well as self-driving car startups such as Gatik, Motional and Kodiak. The company also has contracts with the Army and Defense Innovation Unit.

Co-founder and CTO Peter Ludwig told TechCrunch that he believes “it would be dangerous for an automaker not to partner with us in certain ways due to the complexity and impact of some of the technologies we are developing.”

The new round of funding comes as the development of self-driving cars faces new scrutiny, with General Motors Co. Multiple investigations. ), as well as layoffs and other changes in the scope of some of the most ambitious projects in the field.

However, interest in artificial intelligence is growing. Younis said in a statement that integrating more artificial intelligence technology into its products will “double the production of next-generation vehicles.”

Younis told TechCrunch that this could mean a number of things, such as using artificial intelligence to help produce more dynamic simulated environments for companies to test their self-driving cars. “Simulators are very complex,” he said. “We have teams of PhDs after PhDs sweating all day long about these things.” Applied Intuition will use some hot technologies, such as large language models, Younis said, but will also use “more approaches that are closer to the research area. speculative technology”.

“If you have a world-class artificial intelligence team solving all the problems in the automotive space, there are a lot of low-hanging fruit,” Younis said.