Hivemind Enterprise allows 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 increase 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.
“Growing autonomy is each advanced and dear,” famous Nathan Michael, chief know-how officer of Protect AI. “Hivemind Enterprise solves this extensively recognized downside and allows 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 hundreds of thousands of autonomous techniques 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 techniques. 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 know-how 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 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 facility,” industrial-grade middleware, an autonomy catalog, and mission management. The corporate mentioned it empowers builders to construct and personal their mission-ready autonomous techniques with velocity and suppleness.
“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,” said 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 Normal 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 collection of a number of autonomous flights deliberate for this yr.
“This flight showcased how superior autonomous techniques can seamlessly function on open-architecture platforms with out vendor lock, guaranteeing warfighters have entry to the perfect mission autonomy options obtainable,” mentioned Mike Atwood, vp of superior packages 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 business collaborations, which is vital to accelerating the way forward for autonomous aviation and guaranteeing 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 buyers L3Harris and Hanwha Aerospace, in addition to participation from present buyers 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 attainable 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 associate to speed up the supply of AI-enabled options and rising applied sciences to satisfy our clients’ wants sooner and extra effectively.”
Protect AI additionally famous a number of profitable milestones in 2024 and up to date know-how integrations comparable to mission autonomy work with L3Harris.
