PerceptIn Launches the DragonFly Pod: The World's First $40,000 Autonomous Vehicle

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PerceptIn, a world-class full-stack visual intelligence company focused on robotics, today announced the launch of DragonFly Pod, the people's autonomous vehicle (AV) priced at $40,000. Created with PerceptIn's visual intelligence technology, DragonFly is the first autonomous vehicle to combine patented vision-based sensor fusion with a patented modular computing system to provide a safe and reliable method of transport in low-speed environments.

To ensure safety and enable immediate deployment, the DragonFly Pod, which maxes out at 20 miles per hour, is initially equipped for corporate and university campuses and areas with limited traffic to transport employees and goods. Following technology enhancements, PerceptIn will be able to deploy vehicles suited for high-speed scenarios.

"The barriers preventing the ubiquitous adoption of clean energy autonomous vehicles are technology reliability, safety, ethical and affordability concerns," said Jean-Luc Gaudiot, IEEE Fellow, 2017 IEEE Computer Society President and Distinguished Professor at UC Irvine. "With PerceptIn's vision intelligence technology, the DragonFly combats these challenges and has the potential to offer the benefits of a self-driving car to people globally."

According to The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Americans spend a total of 30 billion hours per year on driving, sitting in traffic or looking for a parking space. What's more, a McKinsey report states that from 2015 to 2030, the benefits of AVs could add between $3 billion and $4 billion, or $2,200 to $2,800 per resident. Nearly four-fifths of these benefits will result from improvements in safety. With the launch of DragonFly, PerceptIn's goal is to enable citizens to take back time for leisure, creativity and productivity in an increasingly demanding global information economy.

"We believe the DragonFly is a truly disruptive technology that has the potential to transform robotics and the autonomous driving industry," said Jaeyoung Shin, the Head of Samsung Ventures China.  

"With PerceptIn's DragonFly, we can ensure the wellbeing of our students, faculty and staff while creating a more efficient and clean energy transportation system on our university campus," said Weisong Shi, IEEE Fellow, Professor at Wayne State University, director of the CAR Lab.

"At PerceptIn, we're dedicated to uncovering the potential of robotization," said Dr. Shaoshan Liu, Founder and Chairman of PerceptIn.

"To do this successfully, you have to solve for the challenge of robotic perception. Through sophisticated engineering, the robot can see and understand the world around it to know precisely where it is regardless if a GPS signal is blocked. With our engineering team's expertise in artificial intelligence, system integration, hardware engineering, and optics, PerceptIn has essentially built the 'eye' for robots and implemented our product, the DragonFly Pod."

"At PerceptIn, our vision hasn't been to just create a great technology company that could make robotization ubiquitous in the form of autonomous vehicles (AVs), but to scale the benefits of robotization and autonomous driving to all citizens — including those whose livelihoods will be affected by the coming robotization revolution — and not just to the privileged few."

"We are also committed to the task of enabling people to create AVs and not just use them. People often say that building an autonomous vehicle is just as difficult and far-fetched as building a rocket but we disagree. In fact, we've simplified the whole process to make the building of autonomous vehicles not that much different from that of building with legos."

PerceptIn has developed a method for modularizing key components of AVs such that even individuals with a limited engineering background can easily integrate these five or six components to build their own autonomous vehicle.

"Our lego-like approach is more than just about encouraging people to have fun building their own AVs. When people think of AVs, they often think of cars on the road. But there are so many other applications. A farmer, for instance, can use the resources and knowledge we provide in our textbook, community and comic book style manuals on how to build his or her own autonomous machine for his farm."

PerceptIn Founder Shaoshan Liu brings over 150 U.S. and international patents on robotics and autonomous driving to his work on the DragonFly.

PerceptIn is now selecting customers for their pilot program. The DragonFly Pod will be available for purchase in the U.S in November of 2018 for $40,000.

About PerceptIn
PerceptIn is a world-class full-stack visual intelligence company building machines that see, interpret, learn and take action. The company's core technology, focused on visual intelligence, is finding its way onto myriad new devices in a broad range of areas, from IoT-grade robots to autonomous driving. Priced at $40,000, PerceptIn's DragonFly Pod is the world's first safe, reliable and affordable people's autonomous vehicle. With offices in Santa Clara, California and Shenzhen, China, PerceptIn serves more than 100 customers and works on providing hardware and software solutions for the robotization of the next generation of products.

SOURCE PerceptIn