08.09.17
PARC, a Xerox company, announced it is spinning off Metawave Corporation — a breakthrough wireless technology start-up, which builds technology solutions based on engineered metamaterials and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Bringing its team of core researchers, industry leadership and the legacy of PARC, Metawave will commercialize smart beamsteering antenna systems for autonomous vehicles and 5G markets. Incubated at PARC, Metawave secured significant initial seed funding from leading investors in Silicon Valley and New York.
Dr. Maha Achour, Metawave’s CEO and Dr. Bernard Casse, CTO, founded the company with the vision of disrupting the status quo in wireless technology, by merging adaptive metamaterials and AI in order to reach performance and safety levels currently unattainable with today’s technologies. Dr. Achour has 20 years leadership experience in RF, wireless, metamaterial structures, optics and networking industries in commercial and defense sectors. Dr. Casse brings 10 years of experience commercializing fundamental science, and has pioneered the innovative beamsteering technology with his former PARC metamaterials applied research team.
Today’s automotive radars are limited — they can’t discriminate objects, do not work well at long ranges and in difficult conditions, and have relatively slow processing speeds. Combining ultra-fast beamsteering/scanning of a pencil beam with intelligent algorithms enables unprecedented capabilities like 3D imaging, identification and classification of objects, non-line-of-sight object detection, and accident anticipation by analyzing traffic patterns, with smart functionality in all-weather conditions. These capabilities represent the future of automotive radar, which will make self-driving cars a reality.
“This spinoff embodies PARC’s unparalleled commitment to the startup community, and its role in the development and extension of PARC’s world-class innovation ecosystem,” said Dr. Achour. “Metawave is fundamentally changing the way the automotive industry thinks about radars. We are on a mission to build highly intelligent and high-performing automotive radars capable of true 3D vision, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication.”
Building on intellectual property developed at PARC, Metawave is working with leading automotive companies to advance its Metamaterial Frequency-Adaptive Steering Technology (M-FAST) platform to lead the industry’s transformation. Metawave will also work with global telecommunications infrastructure vendors and service providers to accelerate 5G deployments.
Dr. Maha Achour, Metawave’s CEO and Dr. Bernard Casse, CTO, founded the company with the vision of disrupting the status quo in wireless technology, by merging adaptive metamaterials and AI in order to reach performance and safety levels currently unattainable with today’s technologies. Dr. Achour has 20 years leadership experience in RF, wireless, metamaterial structures, optics and networking industries in commercial and defense sectors. Dr. Casse brings 10 years of experience commercializing fundamental science, and has pioneered the innovative beamsteering technology with his former PARC metamaterials applied research team.
Today’s automotive radars are limited — they can’t discriminate objects, do not work well at long ranges and in difficult conditions, and have relatively slow processing speeds. Combining ultra-fast beamsteering/scanning of a pencil beam with intelligent algorithms enables unprecedented capabilities like 3D imaging, identification and classification of objects, non-line-of-sight object detection, and accident anticipation by analyzing traffic patterns, with smart functionality in all-weather conditions. These capabilities represent the future of automotive radar, which will make self-driving cars a reality.
“This spinoff embodies PARC’s unparalleled commitment to the startup community, and its role in the development and extension of PARC’s world-class innovation ecosystem,” said Dr. Achour. “Metawave is fundamentally changing the way the automotive industry thinks about radars. We are on a mission to build highly intelligent and high-performing automotive radars capable of true 3D vision, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication.”
Building on intellectual property developed at PARC, Metawave is working with leading automotive companies to advance its Metamaterial Frequency-Adaptive Steering Technology (M-FAST) platform to lead the industry’s transformation. Metawave will also work with global telecommunications infrastructure vendors and service providers to accelerate 5G deployments.
