Ep. 48 | Argo AI's Hardware VP Talks Autonomous Vehicles and Single Photon Lidar

Moore's Lobby · 21 Jun 2022 · 53m · Episode 8

What this episode covers

Zach Little, Argo AI's VP of Firmware and Hardware, details the company's autonomous driving technology, focusing on their in-house single-photon LiDAR developed from the acquisition of Princeton Lightwave. He explains how this Geiger-mode technology enables long-range detection of low-reflectance objects, such as black cars, which is critical for highway safety. Little also contrasts the rigorous safety and environmental ruggedization required for automotive systems with his previous experience in consumer electronics at Motorola, Microsoft, and Apple. The discussion covers the integration of these sensors with Ford and Volkswagen platforms, addressing challenges in scaling production and ensuring reliability in harsh climates like Miami and Munich.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Over the Air · 30m

    Cracking The Code Of Automotive Radar: An Inside Look With Arbe's Chief Radar Officer

    Gonen Barkan, Chief Radar Officer at Arbe, explains how his company’s high-resolution 4D imaging radar chipsets provide superior safety for autonomous driving compared to legacy systems. He details the technical shift from simple tracking to 5-dimensional point clouds, highlighting Arbe's partnerships with tier-one suppliers like Magna and Chinese manufacturers to integrate their silicon into vehicle radar units. Barkan also recounts his history developing early imaging radar at GM and Cruise, discussing the cultural and technical challenges of transitioning traditional automotive DNA to a software-defined, deep-tech mindset.

  • How I Built This · 41m

    The future of driving is autonomous with Dmitri Dolgov of Waymo

    Dmitri Dolgov, co-CEO of Waymo, recounts the company's decade-long journey from a secret Google project to the world's first fully autonomous ride-hailing service. He details the technical evolution from the early DARPA Challenge vehicles to the current Jaguar I-PACE fleet, explaining why Waymo chose a multi-sensor approach with LiDAR and radar over Tesla's camera-only vision. Dolgov also discusses the strategic pivot to full autonomy, the safety framework that underpins their operations, and the business model involving Waymo One, Uber partnerships, and future personal vehicle ownership.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 20m

    The Terahertz Frontier with Greg Charvat of Teradar

    Greg Charvat, CTO and co-founder of Teradar, explains how his company is developing terahertz-frequency radar chips to overcome the resolution limits of 77 GHz automotive radar and the weather sensitivity of LIDAR. He details the technical challenges of designing sensors on silicon, leveraging high-volume semiconductor fabs to create a competitive moat, and the importance of digital phased arrays for high-resolution imaging. Charvat also shares advice for hardware founders on avoiding the CEO trap and discusses Teradar's distributed engineering culture across San Jose, Boston, and Connecticut.

  • EE Times Current · 23m

    Opto Computing R&D | Broadcom Did What, Now? | Testing Autonomous Vehicles

    EE Times editor Brian Santo and Rick Merritt discuss Broadcom's acquisition of Symantec, analyzing CEO Hock Tan's strategy to grow revenue by adding a software business to his chip empire, distinct from Intel's failed attempts at synergy. Correspondent Junko Yoshida reports on photonics research from the Technical University of Munich and Stanford University, highlighting progress toward quantum sensors and all-optical computers using nanoscale light sources. Finally, Fortellix CEO Ziv Ben-Yossef explains how his startup applies EDA verification principles, such as measurable scenario description language (MSDL), to solve the lack of standard metrics in autonomous vehicle simulation testing.

  • The Robot Report Podcast · 1h 10m

    State of robotic perception with RGo Robotics' Amir Bousani

    Amir Bousani, co-founder and CEO of Argo Robotics, discusses the company's exit from stealth mode with $20 million in funding and its perception engine for mobile robots. He explains how Argo's vision-based system enables 'human-level perception' to identify objects and navigate complex, unstructured environments where traditional LiDAR fails. The conversation covers the limitations of current robotic sensing, the strategic choice of camera-based hardware reference designs, and the future of sensor fusion in robotics.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Moore's Lobby. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.