Uber has announced the acquisition of Segments.ai, a Belgian startup specialised in multi-sensor labelling tools for self-driving vehicles, drones, trucks, and autonomous robotics.
The announcement was made by Segments.ai’s CEO, Otto Debals, through a LinkedIn post.
In another post, Uber AI Solutions, the company’s AI data services hand, said that the acquisition is part of its commitment to building its lidar and multi-sensor data annotation capabilities.
The company stated that it has been working in this area for nearly a decade, utilising labels on real-world data to drive breakthroughs in autonomy, safety, and artificial intelligence.
“We are continuing to double down on our lidar and multi-sensor data annotation capabilities as we serve customers globally,” says the company.
Post acquisition, the Segments.ai team will join Uber AI Solutions, led by Megha, within Gus’s Core Services unit.
Together, they will accelerate the development of best-in-class annotation tooling for robotics and autonomous systems.
Segments.ai: Data labelling platform
Founded in 2020 by Otto Debals and Bert De Brabandere, Segments.ai provides a data labelling platform for training autonomous systems, particularly robots and self-driving cars.
They help reduce the manual effort required to label large datasets through their cloud platform and API, which provide tools for efficient labelling, automated suggestions, and smart learning.
Segment.ai was the first Belgian company to join Y Combinator (W21) and has since grown into a cashflow-positive business with a global customer base.
To date, the company’s annotation platform has powered diverse use cases, from autonomous tractors to next-generation delivery drones.
Segments.ai has been backed by investors including Merus Capital, Volta Ventures, and Y Combinator partners Nicolas Dessaigne, Dalton Caldwell, and Harj Taggar, with support from Start it Accelerate | KBC, angel investors, and advisors.
