4D imaging radar provides ‘100% safety solution’ for automobiles: Arbe Robotics CEO

Kobi Marenko, Arbe Robotics CEO, joins Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous to discuss the company’s 4D imaging radar and going public via SPAC with Industrial Tech Acquisitions.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Another auto tech company is coming to market. Israeli based startup Arbe Robotics is set to join forces with the American SPAC Industrial Tech Acquisitions. The combined company will list on the NASDAQ at the end of the second quarter or beginning of the third quarter with a combined value of more than $720 million.

Joining me now is the CEO of Arbe Robotics, Kobi Marenko. Kobi, good to have you here. So you say you have the world's first ultra high resolution 4D imaging radar. You're in a very crowded space. And I'd love to know what makes your technology different or sets it apart from what's already on the market.

KOBI MARENKO: So first, we are the first company to have an ultra high resolution radar. The radar is based on a millimeter wave radio, which has a huge advantage on any other sensors because this technology penetrates dust, snow, fog, rain. Any kind of weather problems are penetrated with our radar.

Radar is the only stenciled that can see up to a very long range. We can see a car up to 350, 400 meters, motorcycle in 250 meters. So this is the only long range technology. And of course, this is the only technology that can work at night. Radar also has another huge advantage, that it's a 4D sensor, which means that we detect the Doppler.

So if a child is doing his first step to the road, we are able to actually detecting, like you see here on the video. We also have a depth perception in a very accurate way. So all in all, with the radar, you're able to have a 100% safety solution for any kind of autonomous driving solutions or safety applications.

This is the unique advantage of the radar. Radar is a sensor that already exists in the car for the last 15 years. But it has a very poor resolution. It cannot detect stationary objects. So if we see it from here and there are accidents that involved a car crashing into a stationary car, this is because the radar cannot really detect that. And we are coming with that solves that.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: So I get it. It can see through low visibility, small objects, like I guess, cats, dogs, children. But what about the cost of that and putting your radar into an actual vehicle, compared to what else is out on the market?

KOBI MARENKO: So when we designed the chips that we are developing, the assumption was that the price of the radar in the car should be roughly $100 for a front facing high resolution radar. And this is exactly what we are reaching.

We are reaching to a solution that has two configurations, a very high end that are going to robot taxi in $150, and something that can serve in today's applications, like the Tesla autopilot, in a $100 in a mass production. We are engaged with the leading ones in the market that supply radars today to the car companies with our chips. And they are already quoting this figure to car manufacturers.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Can you tell us some companies, clients, maybe tier one companies that are using your technology? And when might we actually see it on the road in an autonomous car?

KOBI MARENKO: So we will begin to ramp up a full production next year. And we already have contracts with customers. So in the second half of '22, you will be able to see actual robot taxi and delivery robots with our radars inside. And in production companies in regular cars, it would be a year after, '23, '24.

We are expecting to pass $300 million in revenues in '25. This is already a mass production. And I believe that until the end of the decade, this will be a must sensor to any kind of application in the market.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: OK, those are awesome goals. Do you have any names of companies that you can share with us who are going to be using your technology?

KOBI MARENKO: We will be able to announce a few of these deals in the coming weeks. We are in the final signatures. And we believe that in the next few weeks, we will have large announcements from a leading players.

I can say that 26 customers already purchased samples of our radar in the low volume. We are engaged with the leading radar tier ones, like Valeo, like the global leaders in radar in the market. But the real names we will be able to elaborate in the coming weeks. We are saving some more news to come.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right, Kobi Marenko, CEO of Arbe Robotics. We will be looking out for that SPAC to hit the market over the next couple of months.