Stellantis acquires AI startup supercharging autonomous driving development

Stellantis acquired aiMotive, a developer of advanced artificial intelligence and autonomous driving software. 

The AI startup is based in Budapest, Hungary. It also has offices in Germany, the United States, and Japan, Teslarati reports.

The Hungary-based AI company focuses on four areas regarding artificial intelligence and autonomous driving, listed below. 

aiDrive: Embedded software stack for autonomous driving
aiData: Artificial intelligence operations and data tooling
aiWare: Expertise and intellectual property for silicon microchips
aiSim: Software simulation for the development of autonomous driving.   

“Acquiring aiMotive’s world-class artificial intelligence and autonomous driving technology is an important contribution to becoming a sustainable mobility tech company. aiMotive’s class-leading expertise and startup spirit will accelerate our journey to deliver our Dare Forward 2030 goals,” said Yves Bonnefont, Stellantis’ Chief Software Officer.
In December 2021, Stellantis revealed plans to develop and release software. The automaker estimated it could generate about $20 billion in extra revenue from vehicle software by 2030. It plans to introduce a hands-free Level 3 self-driving system to some Stellantis vehicles by 2024. 

Stellantis aims to deploy three platforms that are heavily geared toward vehicle software: STLA Brain, STLA Cockpit, and STLA AutoDrive. aiMotive seems to be a step towards developing STLA AutoDrive, a software system that would offer Level 2, 2+, and 3 autonomous driving capabilities through over-the-air (OTA) updates.