Hivemind Enterprise permits the event of autonomous operations in GPS-denied environments. Supply: Protect AI
Protect AI, a supplier of autonomy software program and protection plane, yesterday introduced that it has accomplished an F-1 strategic funding spherical of $240 million, bringing the corporate’s valuation to $5.3 billion.
San Diego, Calif.-based Protect AI mentioned it plans to make use of the funds to broaden the deployment of its Hivemind Enterprise platform to OEMs, governments, and firms to allow them to present autonomy to the bigger robotics and drone industrial base.
“Creating autonomy is each advanced and expensive,” famous Nathan Michael, chief expertise officer of Protect AI. “Hivemind Enterprise solves this broadly recognized downside and permits the fast and environment friendly proliferation of resilient, high-performance autonomy for clever machines throughout industries. Hivemind Enterprise is about supercharging the economic base to construct and monetize autonomy, enabling a world of thousands and thousands of autonomous programs within the subsequent 10 years.”
Based in 2015, Protect AI mentioned it’s a venture-backed deep-technology firm with the mission of defending service members and civilians with clever, autonomous programs. Its merchandise embody Hivemind Enterprise—EdgeOS, Hivemind Pilot, Hivemind Commander, and Hivemind Forge—in addition to V-BAT drones and the Sentient Imaginative and prescient Methods wide-area movement imaging software program.
The firm mentioned its expertise actively helps U.S. and allied operations worldwide. It has places of work in San Diego, Dallas, and Washington, D.C., in addition to Abu Dhabi within the United Arab Emirates; Kyiv, Ukraine; and Melbourne, Australia.
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Hivemind Enterprise accelerates autonomy, says Protect AI
Hivemind Enterprise is an autonomy software program suite for builders and organizations constructing, testing, evaluating, and deploying autonomy for clever machines. Protect AI claimed that it could actually speed up improvement by “delivering a multi-year head begin with platform merchandise, AI-powered toolsets, and leveraging Protect AI’s confirmed edge autonomy.”
The Hivemind Enterprise product suite consists of an built-in “autonomy manufacturing unit,” industrial-grade middleware, an autonomy catalog, and mission management. The corporate mentioned it empowers builders to construct and personal their mission-ready autonomous programs with pace and adaptability.
“The identical instruments that make up Hivemind Enterprise have already enabled Protect AI to autonomously fly F-16s, MQ-20s, MQM-178s, function V-BATs in GPS- and communications-denied environments, and have quadcopters discover buildings and tunnels for U.S. and Israeli forces,” acknowledged Brandon Tseng, co-founder and president of Protect AI. “Partnerships with strategics like L3 Harris and Hanwha Aerospace additional speed up efforts to proliferate resilient autonomy.”
This week, Protect AI efficiently demonstrated its Hivemind software program flying a Common Atomics Aeronautical Methods Inc. (GA-ASI) MQ-20 Avenger drone throughout a February Orange Flag train. The businesses mentioned the demo marks the primary in a sequence of a number of autonomous flights deliberate for this yr.
“This flight showcased how superior autonomous programs can seamlessly function on open-architecture platforms with out vendor lock, making certain warfighters have entry to the most effective mission autonomy options out there,” mentioned Mike Atwood, vp of superior applications at GA-ASI.
“We partnered with Protect AI to deliver confirmed autonomy experience and a shared dedication to delivering cutting-edge capabilities for the warfighter,” he added. “GA-ASI is constructing an open platform that helps these sorts of trade collaborations, which is vital to accelerating the way forward for autonomous aviation and making certain mission-ready autonomy options.”
A GA-ASI MQ-20 Avenger drone, which demonstrated the Hivemind autonomy software program final month. Supply: Protect AI
L3 Harris collaborates, invests in autonomy
Protect AI’s financing was accomplished with main participation from strategic traders L3Harris and Hanwha Aerospace, in addition to participation from current traders together with Andreessen Horowitz, U.S. Progressive Know-how, and Washington Harbour.
“The necessity for superior autonomy has by no means been extra pressing, and Protect AI is proving that autonomy at scale shouldn’t be solely doable however inevitable,” mentioned Christopher E. Kubasik, chair and CEO of L3Harris. “Their dedication to pushing the boundaries of AI-driven autonomy aligns with our Trusted Disruptor technique, the place we companion to speed up the supply of AI-enabled options and rising applied sciences to fulfill our prospects’ wants quicker and extra effectively.”
Protect AI additionally famous a number of profitable milestones in 2024 and up to date expertise integrations corresponding to mission autonomy work with L3Harris.
