Innoviz Technologies has expanded its collaboration with Dataspeed Inc. to integrate the InnovizSMART LiDAR sensor with Dataspeed’s drive-by-wire vehicle platforms. The partnership will focus on distributing and integrating the InnovizSMART LiDAR sensor with Dataspeed’s Drive-by-Wire vehicle systems to support autonomous development across industries such as defense, agriculture, mining, automotive, and other off-highway sectors in North America.
Dataspeed’s Drive-by-Wire platforms are designed for autonomous vehicles operating in demanding off-road environments including deserts, forests, open-pit mines, farmland, and mountainous regions. These conditions often expose vehicle sensors to mud, dirt, condensation, and airborne debris that can reduce the performance of conventional LiDAR technologies and disrupt perception systems during critical operations.
InnovizSMART has been engineered to address these challenges with built-in resilience to optical blockages. The sensor is designed to continue delivering high-resolution, long-range 3D data even when its optical surface is partially obstructed by elements such as water droplets, mud, or dust. This capability helps maintain reliable object detection and classification, reducing the likelihood of perception failures that can occur when cameras or traditional LiDAR sensors are affected by environmental interference.
“Our partnership with Dataspeed reflects our ongoing commitment to provide robust LiDAR sensors designed for the real world, not controlled environments,” said Mrinal Sood, VP North America at Innoviz. “Together, we are equipping researchers and innovators with reliable sensor data that improves dependability of autonomous vehicle systems across a multitude of terrains.”
The collaboration is set to deliver integration of InnovizSMART into Dataspeed’s Drive-by-Wire systems allowing customers to benefit from:
- Blockage-resilience: LiDAR performance remains reliable even in scenarios where mud, dirt, or debris build up on the sensor window;
- Direct integration with Dataspeed’s control architecture;
- Purpose-built autonomous research and development vehicles for agriculture, off-highway, defense, and university applications.
“For our customers operating in challenging terrains and demanding landscapes, sensor reliability is not a luxury, it’s a mission-critical KPI,” said Paul Fleck, CEO of Dataspeed. “Integrating InnovizSMART into our Drive-by-Wire systems allows our customers to deploy a sensor capable of high performance despite obstruction. Enabling use cases across research, defense, and agricultural to test and deploy autonomy with greater confidence and fewer operational interruptions.”
