State of Autonomous systems

The future of self-driving cars is almost upon us. For the longest time, the promise of driverless cars has enticed people as a lower risk and more comfortable ride. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that every year more than 1.3 million people die because of road traffic crashes. Automotive companies are racing towards self-driving cars and use cutting-edge technology ranging from LiDAR to cameras. A crucial component of the ability of cars to drive themselves is their connection to each other.

The automotive revolution is currently underway and is being fueled by cutting-edge communication technology. To organize this explosive development, the Automotive SerDes Alliance was established. The Automotive SerDes Alliance (ASA) has now been established as the new standard for in-vehicle connectivity. Founded in 2019, the alliance has attracted more than 70 companies, including BMW and Ford. The ASA optimizes in-vehicle connectivity with a deterministic delivery framework.

Among the companies building connectivity solutions for automotive stands Aviva.

About Aviva

Aviva Links is a startup created by industry experts using deep domain expertise in multi-gigabit technologies. They are developing innovative connection solutions for next-generation autonomous systems. Founded in November 2020 by David Young and Kamal Dalmia, Aviva Links integrates circuit solutions. Their goal is to enable next-generation vehicles to move vast amounts of data at unprecedented speeds while meeting the performance, power, security, and cost requirements of the automotive market.

Next-gen connectivity includes simple links as well as sophisticated networks. To achieve higher bandwidths and security, Aviva focuses on developing the interconnect for infotainment systems and ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems). The infotainment system focuses on the interaction of the passengers with the car controls like navigation and temperature control. The ADAS focuses on assisted driving to make roads safer.

Aviva aimed to build with the ASA standards and was the first to market with ASA technology. They have developed their product to excel in all the layers of the ASA standards- physical, data link, switching, adaptation, and security. Aviva’s main competitors include Texas Instruments, Aquantia, and Broadcom. Compared to other vendors, Aviva boasts 4x lower power consumption and a 256-bit wire-speed security built-in. 

The car networking environment is much harsher than an ordinary office-like environment - among other challenges, it's noisier and less predictable. Also, the consequences of network failure in an automobile can be momentous. Therefore, cars need a robust digital signal processing (DSP) capability for reliability. To deal with this noisy environment, Aviva built a strong physical layer. A 10gig connection ensures reliable connections in even the noisiest environments.

TSVC Conviction

When we invest in seed stage tech startups, typical measurements of success such as product, customers, and revenue do not exist.  Instead, we always look at 3 pillars: the market, the technology, and the team.

The autonomous driving market is one of the fastest-growing and promising industries today. Simple forms Layer 2 or Layer 3 ADAS are available in most new cars. Starting from a single camera and a millimeter wave radar, these technologies are making roads safer for everyone. The growing number of sensors and cameras that are driving these changes now need to be interconnected.

As seen earlier, Aviva's technology stands apart from the crowd. They were the first to market with AVA technology and boast a great connection efficiency and reliability. These features are key for automotive connections.

The team consists of industry experts with years of expertise in the field. David Young (CEO) and Kamal Dalmia (COO) were both in the founding team of Marvell. Sachin Goel (VP digital) and Hiok-Tiaq Ng (VP Analog) were both in the  Aquantia IPO team. With a solid track record of technology & business execution, they have driven the industry roadmap for 20+ years.

Armed with a strong team and technology, in an exponentially growing market, Aviva is a company TSVC believes has amazing promise.

Links

https://www.avivalinks.com/index.html