Companies to partner to transform test into a competitive advantage for autonomous vehicle development

NI (NASDAQ: NATI) and Konrad Technologies (KT) today announced they have entered into a strategic agreement to develop test systems and solutions for autonomous driving software and hardware validation. Together, the companies plan to deliver new technologies to help automotive Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs leverage real-world road data and simulation, to help improve vehicle and passenger safety and bring the promise of autonomous driving (AD) to the roads faster.

AD requires a complex mix of rapidly evolving technologies such as machine learning, LiDAR and imaging radar to come to life. It involves a challenging process that forces test systems to adapt in tandem to efficiently validate the complex embedded software required to operate autonomous vehicles (AVs) safely in real-world scenarios. By combining NI’s software-connected test solutions with KT’s expertise in system integration and solution delivery for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) test, the two companies expect to streamline validation to accelerate the shift to self-driving cars. While the plan is that the test solutions will scale across fleet management, data utilization and sensor test, initial solutions will focus on high bandwidth data recording and hardware-in-the-loop test systems for testing ADAS and AD software algorithms.

"AVs are among the most complex systems being tested today, and no one company can tackle the challenge of getting these vehicles to market alone," said Chad Chesney, general manager of NI’s Transportation business unit. "Our strategic agreement and a seat on the KT board will deepen our long-standing partnership with KT and give customers the system-level capabilities they need to quickly and efficiently test the complex embedded software found within today’s AVs —helping them ensure that test is not a bottleneck but a competitive advantage on the road to autonomy."

"Connecting NI’s open instrumentation to our system integration expertise will allow us to build turnkey solutions that help customers shorten their time to market," said Michael Konrad, CEO of Konrad Technologies. "This partnership with NI is expected to provide a consistent tool chain that will help customers rectify multiple challenges efficiently in all stages of the ADAS and AD system product cycle."

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