Looking to accelerate and improve its high-resolution radar solutions for autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), NXP Semiconductors N.V. has invested in autonomous software start-up Zendar.
The two companies will collaborate on radar systems by leveraging Zendar’s distributed aperture radar (DAR) technology that allows for a simplified approach to radar solutions. The DAR technology will be integrated with NXP’s S32R radar processor platforms and RFCMOS SAF8x system-on-chip (SoC).
For NXP, the investment will reinforce its technology for automotive radar, which is designed to improve overall road safety. Autonomous driving and ADAS technology are seen as a path toward improving road fatalities and accidents globally.
However, these systems rely on high-resolution sensing technologies to view the environment around the vehicle to provide safe paths for not just the care but pedestrians and objects around the vehicle.
DAR technology enhances the resolution of radar systems while simultaneously eliminating the need for thousands of antenna channels. Specifically, the technology:
- Enables high-angular resolution below 0.5°
- Lidar-life performance
- Flexible mounting techniques
The lidar like performance is particularly important because of precise mapping of the environment where conventional radar sensor operate between 2° and 4°.
