PreAct Technologies, a manufacturer of near-field software-definable flash lidar technology, has agreed to acquire Gestoos, the developer of a software platform that enables users with no specialized training to efficiently generate artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to address their own use cases.
“By marrying a powerful AI algorithm development platform with our best-in-class flash lidar, we have created a unique environment for our customers to quickly solve difficult use cases,” said Paul Drysch PreAct Technologies CEO. “For example, current in-cabin and cargo monitoring solutions were falling well short of delivering the kind of performance OEMs and fleets are looking for. This is a real problem given the changing regulatory environment requiring accurate and stable cabin monitoring.
“The Gestoos AI development platform comes pre-integrated with our flash lidar solution and a development environment, making AI training tractable by our customers’ own engineers with minimal hand-holding. We are excited to welcome the entire Gestoos team into the PreAct family, and even more excited to provide OEMs with real solutions to their most pressing sensor use case problems.”
Gestoos has built its platform from the ground up to make AI development approachable. It can be used to train algorithms for any purpose, including gestures, human motion and multiple combinations of humans and objects interacting. When partnered with PreAct’s flash lidar technology, algorithm development that used to take weeks for a team to complete can now be finished in just a few hours.
The Gestoos technology is currently being used or evaluated in an array of applications, including in the automotive sector where it is being used for child or pet detection, driver monitoring, occupancy monitoring and behavior-based insurance risk rating. The technology is also being used for touch-free HMI interfaces.
“The acquisition of Gestoos is extremely strategic and should provide PreAct with a greater ability to intelligently process sensor data on the edge,” said Jeffrey Hannah, chief commercial officer of automotive technology research and consulting firm SBD Automotive. “This move also broadens PreAct’s IP suite, allowing them to become less reliant on system integrators to deliver new applications as well as differentiated software-defined services.”