AR HUD, The Time is Now!

INTERVIEW Tero Sarkkinen CEO, Basemark 

Basemark, a automotive AR(augmented reality) software provider that supports OEMs in effectively developing AR applications, has successfully secured €22 million in Series B funding. Last year's series production contract with a US OEM for AR HUD was crucial. Now, Basemark aims to deepen its European and US OEM business and explore business expansion into Korea, China, and Japan. Tero Sarkkinen, founder and CEO of Basemark, stated in a brief interview with AEM, ‘The explosion of potential in automotive AR and Basemark is happening right now!’

written by Sangmin Han_han@autoelectronics.co.kr

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Helsinki, Finland (April 9th, 2024) Basemark, a leading provider of automotive AR software that enables OEMs to develop AR applications for their cars, has successfully raised €22M in series B funding. The round was a combination of equity, grants, and loans, and was led by ETF Partners, with funding also coming from Finnish Industry Investment (Tesi), Constructor Capital, a single family office based in Zurich, Business Finland, the European Innovation Council, and private investors.
Basemark will use the capital to deepen its business with OEMs in Europe and the United States and fund its international expansion to South Korea, China, and Japan. The aim is to secure more series production deals with OEMs, and strengthen its Rocksolid AR software development tools. The company secured its first series production deal with an OEM in the United States last year and is also actively discussing with major OEMs in Europe and Asia.



"Rocksolid AR facilitates OEMs in enhancing vehicle safety and providing a more enjoyable driving experience by supporting the faster, easier, and more affordable development of their AR Head-Up Display (HUD) and other in-vehicle screens AR applications.



INTERVIEW   

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AR HUD, The Time is Now!


What recent factors contributed to the success of Basemark's Series B funding?
Sarkkinen        It was clearly the series production deal that we won last year. It proved our business model and its potential to the investors. The deal includes licensing developer tools, Rocksolid AR Studio and SDK to the customer as well as the Rocksolid AR Engine runtimes that will be integrated to the car’s software stack.


I remember a few years ago Basemark collaborated with BMW to implement the ‘AR on Video’ solution. Last year, Basemark signed a production contract with a US OEM. Is this related to Video or HUD?
Sarkkinen        This US OEM deal is about AR HUD. We’re seeing demand continuing strong for both video AR and for AR HUDs and are in multiple series production negotiations for both of those.


Apart from the OEM production announcement, Basemark already has partnerships in Europe, North America, and Asia. When do you expect this potential to explode with AR?
Sarkkinen        The time is now, it seems. In China, practically every new car model has some sort of AR and it’s becoming a standard feature that customers love and require. Our Rocksolid AR can be considered as a “next generation AR” since it is a AI based computer vision system that actually generates mixed reality scenes.

This means that the AR graphics are seamlessly aligned and merged with the real world scene and we avoid rendering over important information in the real world scene. This gives a much better - and safer - experience to the driver compared to other systems that don’t have computer vision capabilities. Those are ignorant of the real world scene and hence the graphics often time block important information from the driver and feel detached from the real world.


Regarding these partnerships and customers, what makes Basemark's products very special in the automotive value chain related to AR? 
Sarkkinen        Being able to properly anchor AR assets and merge those with the real world scene requires special expertize and technology. Our customers give every day validation that our system is the best out there.


For global expansion, marketing, and local engineering support seem crucial. Can you give an outlook on the company's external growth, including manpower? 
Sarkkinen        We have now entered the scaling up phase. While we’re still recruiting more developers, to select positions, the majority of recruiting going forward will be in developing our sales operations. This year, we will start active business development in some key Asian markets.


What are the key technological advancements in products such as Rocksolid AR?
Sarkkinen        Over 80% of what we do is related to AI based computer vision. There’s a lot of problems to be solved in automotive grade AR. These include 3D positioning, anti-vibration and latency compensation to name a few.


Is there any other story you'd like to share?   
Sarkkinen        We will arrange an automotive AR specific seminar in June called Rocksolid Days. It has already attracted speakers from leading OEMs and analysts and I would like to warmly welcome your readers to this crucial AR seminar! We will announce more details in the coming days on our website www.basemark.com, In this event, we will announce some headline partnerships and demonstrators with world leading AR technology companies.


 

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AR HUD Demo


Basemark Raises €22M to Make Driving Safer with AR  

According to the World Health Organization, 1.19 million people were killed on roadways around the world in 2023. To improve safety and provide a more enjoyable driving experience, Basemark’s automotive AR software solution, Rocksolid AR, makes it fast, easy, and affordable for OEMs to develop their own Augmented Reality applications for Heads-up Displays (HUDs) and other in-vehicle screens. AR HUDs improve driving safety by projecting real-time contextual guidance, alerts, and other AR content onto the windshield, helping drivers to constantly keep their eyes on the road.

Unlike its competitors, which solely focus on providing AR software development services, Rocksolid AR enables OEMs to develop AR solutions themselves by combining an AR development studio with an interconnected AR software development kit (SDK). This combination enables the efficient development of bespoke AR applications that reflect the unique brands of various OEMs.

“We are pleased to welcome new investors Tesi and Constructor Capital onboard, as well as thank our existing investor ETF for their continued support. Constructor Capital's Founder, Serg Bell, is an exceptional entrepreneur and has founded many companies that offer synergies to Basemark. We're excited to work together to make driving more safe and enjoyable,” says Tero Sarkkinen, Founder and CEO of Basemark.

“OEMs want to become software developers themselves because of the software-defined car megatrend. However, AR development is very slow, expensive, and tedious to learn, requiring expertise in AI, computer vision, graphics, and embedded systems. Traditional HMI development tools do not have computer vision capabilities, so there was a growing need for an AR development tool in the automotive industry. That’s why we developed Rocksolid AR, the world’s first series production-grade automotive AR development tool set capable of addressing the unique challenges of AR in the automotive industry,” he continues.

Most AR solutions struggle to anchor AR content to the real world. Rocksolid AR includes advanced localization and motion tracking mechanisms to ensure AR content is always anchored correctly to real-world objects and appears in the correct position in the driver’s Field of View, regardless of motion or vibration.

Additionally, Rocksolid AR has built-in algorithms to combat latency, which can make the AR content feel disconnected from the real world and cause motion sickness. It can also automatically understand safety-critical information in the environment and avoid blocking it with AR content to ensure a safe and immersive AR experience.

“Displaying the right information at the right time and place for the driver is the most difficult part of developing immersive automotive AR experiences. Rocksolid AR handles all the AI heavy lifting for positioning content in the most immersive way, enabling OEMs to focus on brand differentiation,” continues Sarkkinen.

Basemark’s Rocksolid AR Studio enables OEMs to develop lightweight, portable AR applications that can fit on low-end chips and power multiple in-vehicle displays simultaneously, such as HUDs, instrument clusters, infotainment displays, and E-mirrors.

“In the future, as autonomous cars become the norm, we expect a significant decrease in the total number of vehicles on the road, with the majority being electric. This shift will result in a substantial reduction of emissions. Augmented reality is key to this transformation, serving as an integral component of the Software Defined Vehicle megatrend that is guiding the automotive industry toward full autonomy. Basemark is at the forefront of the AR/VR HUD technology revolution and they are perfectly positioned to help OEMs craft safer, more sustainable, and more enjoyable driving experiences for all,” says Remy de Tonnac, Senior Partner at ETF Partners.

“Finland has produced many category-leading software companies in the world and I see Basemark having an opportunity to become one in the professional augmented reality field. Developer tools are close to my heart and I am very happy to support Basemark in its growth phase and beyond,” says Serg Bell, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Constructor Group.

In 2022, Basemark announced it has significantly contributed to BMW Group’s new iX AR applications. The company also counts several other well-known OEMs and Tier-1 companies as customers from the USA, Germany, France, Italy, and UK.

To date, Basemark has raised €34M in total funding and currently has operations in Helsinki, Munich, Detroit and San Francisco Bay Area. The global automotive heads-up display market size was valued at USD 1.43 billion in 2023 and is projected to hit around USD 17.43 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 31.97% from 2023 to 2032.


  Basemark will exhibit and demo Rocksolid AR at Embedded World 2024 in Nuremberg, Germany, from April 9th to 11th, 2024.
BaseMark is embarking on aggressive business development in some key Asian markets following the Series B funding. The image is from Smart Tech Korea held at COEX last year. 

[AEM] Automotive Electronics Magazine

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