#402 - Ben Rathaus - VP AI and Perception, Arbe Robotics

“I don’t see camera as a competing technology to radar, and vice versa. A few car manufacturers have taken a vision-only approach, and I think that this is now understood by more and more people in the industry that it can’t solve the challenge, or offer the required redundancy and safety.”

Radars have been evolving at a really rapid clip, helped in no small part by innovative companies like Arbe Robotics. On today’s episode of the AI in Automotive Podcast, I am talking to Ben Rathaus, VP of AI and Perception at Arbe. 

Ben talks us through the history of radars, and how and why they found their way onto cars. We discuss how Arbe’s silicon and software is creating an order of magnitude improvement in the resolution and performance of automotive grade radars. We talk about the composition of radars, and their output - a mapping of the free space around the vehicle - an absolutely key building block of AD and ADAS algorithms.

Ben and I started at cosmology and ended up at what the humble radar might look like in the future! Just another fascinating conversation that allowed me to understand the past and future of radars a lot better, as well as the very important role they play in making our cars smarter and safer. I think of them as the invisible, unsung heroes - working away diligently in the background, making everything around them work a lot better.

If you have ever wondered whether future radars can wholly replace cameras on the car… well, you will find out at the end of my chat with Ben. So go have a listen, and if you like what you hear, do share the AI in Automotive Podcast with a friend or colleague.