Here comes the largest VC-backed company developing automated driving technology in Europe

Automated or self-driving cars are no longer a vision of the future in sci-fi movies. However, even though a reality, there are still many improvements needed in the self-driving vehicle space. Multiple renown companies such as Alphabet, Tesla, GM, and others are working on improving the technology. 

While not as big, one such notable startup is AImotive, a Hungary-based automated driving technology company. It has secured €17.67 million in a new investment round. With total funding of €66.27 million, it has become the largest VC-backed company developing automated driving technology in Europe.

largest European VC-backed company working on self-driving tech eyes expansion

The latest investment round for AImotive was led by Lead Ventures, a Budapest based scale-up investor. Additionally, existing investors such as Robert Bosch Venture Capital, B Capital Group, Prime Ventures, Inventure, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and Draper Associates increased the size of their investment in the company. New investors such as Lead Ventures and Szechenyi Venture Fund also participated in the funding round as well.

There is a new addition to the company’s Board of Directors as well. Bernhard Bihr joins the board with 15 years of experience as President at Bosch Engineering GmbH. Furthermore, with the latest funding amount, the total funding secured by the company to €66.27 million. This means it is now the largest European VC-backed company working on self-driving technology. 

With fresh funds, AImotive aims to continue its international expansion and open offices in Munich, Germany, and Detroit, MI, USA. The company is already present in Yokohama, Japan, and Mountain View, United States. The latest expansion will strengthen the support for the company’s automotive partners in the two new locations. This latest round of funding and increased investment hints at the growing importance of software in the self-driving technology space. 

“Securing funding during the recession caused by the current pandemic underlines the high demand for, and trust in AImotive’s technologies that tackle the challenges of automated driving through a systematic approach. By not only concentrating on one piece of the automated driving puzzle, we have developed working solutions that solve real-world problems and can be deployed quickly. I am grateful to our investors for their support in the next phase of our growth,” says László Kishonti, founder and CEO of AImotive.

AImotive grows into a European powerhouse of automated driving development

Launched in 2015, AImotive is one of the largest independent teams in the world working on automated driving technologies. Founded CEO Laszlo Kishonti, the company develops self-driving software, proprietary simulation tools and neural network acceleration hardware IP. It is focussed on building an ecosystem to aid in the deployment of automated driving. 

With a current team size over 220 members, the company grew in the last five years. Alongside its Budapest headquarters, it now has offices and testing locations in key automotive areas over three different continents. The company’s developments heavily rely on artificial intelligence (AI) based software solutions. This led AImotive to build one of the largest AI research teams in Europe. 

AImotive also recently announced aiSim, its simulator for automated driving development. It is the only certified automotive-grade simulator of its kind. Enabling money savings, the simulator is also safer since one can conduct tests as many times as they want without any risks of the real world.