- NI has announced the acquisition of monoDrive, a specialist in simulation software for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicle development.
- MonoDrive is an American company founded in 2016 and based in Austin, where NI (formerly National Instruments) is also headquartered. It offers simulation software including sensor models as well as realistic driving scenarios and various environments.
- NI also has a strategic collaboration agreement with Ansys, which specializes in multi-physics process simulation software.
According to NI, ADAS design cycles are complex. Automotive OEMs need systems that streamline transitions between simulation, laboratory and physical test environments to design safer vehicles. Today, disparate tools lead to siloed processes, delays to market and higher costs that reduce the pace of innovation and undermine technology quality.
NI will leverage monoDrive’s signal processing and simulation expertise to support manufacturers in their ADAS development process with driving environments capable of modeling multiple sensors and thousands of real-time scenarios.
According to Chad Chesney, NI vice president and general manager of the Transportation Division, “The combination of monoDrive’s software and NI’s expertise in advanced driver assistance systems will enable smooth transitions in our customers’ software validation workflows. This will result in greater test efficiency, better coverage and more realistic test scenarios to help automakers get safe and reliable autonomous vehicles on the road faster. ”
Along with the acquisition, NI also announced a strategic collaboration with Ansys. Ansys’ software simulation solution enables sensor suppliers to simulate the operation of their radars, LiDARs and cameras. Together, NI and Ansys will focus on developing tools to recreate the real world through simulation in order to validate sensors by providing software and test equipment with relevant data in real time.
