Naver D2SF (D2 Startup Factory) has made a new investment in AI-based autonomous driving startup 'Wearable AI' . This is the first investment for Wearable AI, which was founded in January 2024, and this seed round was led by Quad Ventures, with Naver D2SF and POSTECH Holdings participating.
Wearable AI (CEO Baekdusan) is developing an AI-based autonomous driving solution that uses self-supervised learning to recognize real-time road environments and learn and optimize environmental changes on its own. It processes data directly on the device, not in the cloud, and can flexibly change driving areas and routes according to customer demand, making it a plug-and-play solution that can be driven immediately without the help of infrastructure such as high-precision maps.
Wearable AI is a team re-established by the co-founders of ThorDrive, the first-generation autonomous driving startup in Korea. The members have full-stack autonomous driving technology and have accumulated extensive experience in commercializing and applying technologies in Korea and the United States. Based on this experience, Wearable AI formed a consortium with hyMobility and AtechMobility just four months after its founding and won a contract to introduce autonomous transport vehicles (AM) for the departure hall of Terminal 2 of Incheon International Airport. Currently, 10 indoor autonomous vehicles are being tested at Incheon International Airport for passenger transportation, and the plan is to begin official on-site operation in the first half of 2025.
Recently, international airports and airlines have been seeing a growing need for indoor autonomous driving solutions to improve passenger mobility efficiency and provide smart experiences. Based on this market demand, Wearable AI is targeting international airports as its primary target and plans to expand its business to indoor and outdoor autonomous driving in large shopping malls, resorts, golf courses, campuses, and industrial facilities in the future.
Yang Sang-hwan, head of Naver D2SF Center, said, “As autonomous driving technology is gradually expanding into various spaces and industries, the flexibility and expandability of the technology are becoming more important,” and “Wearable AI is a team with outstanding technological prowess and abundant field experience, and we expect that it will be able to quickly dominate the indoor and LSV (low-speed vehicle) driving market.”
Meanwhile, Naver D2SF is continuously pursuing various cooperation opportunities with domestic mobility startups that it has invested in and within the Naver ecosystem. Recently, LiDAR technology company 'Mobiltech' signed a business agreement with Team Naver to jointly target the Saudi market, and autonomous driving simulation startup 'Morai' is working closely with Naver Labs and Naver Cloud to expand its simulation business.
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