Owl AI

About Owl AI

Owl Autonomous Imaging (Owl AI) develops thermal imaging and ranging solutions for the automotive and defense sectors. Founded in 2018 by CEO Chuck Gershman and Gene Petilli, the company is headquartered in Rochester, New York. The founders' experience in imaging technology formed the basis of the company. Gershman, a serial entrepreneur, and Petilli, a system architect, repurposed intellectual property from a U.S. Air Force challenge grant to create automotive safety solutions. They established Owl AI after receiving positive feedback on their product concept from the automotive industry.

The company's core product is a monocular 3D thermal camera system that provides high-definition thermal imaging with precise ranging capabilities. This technology, called 3D Thermal Ranging, can detect and classify objects, particularly vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists, in adverse conditions such as complete darkness, fog, and snow. Unlike stereo cameras, Owl AI's single-camera system can deliver depth information across the entire field of view and is resistant to vehicle vibration. The system uses proprietary AI and deep learning to analyze heat signatures, creating a 3D point cloud from 2D thermal images without needing active illumination. The company has also developed a low-power, high-definition digital thermal sensor, which it calls the 3D Thermal Ranger.

Owl AI operates on a fabless semiconductor business model, supplying its camera cores, which include custom sensors, optics, and perception software, to Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs in the automotive market. The company targets the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) market for vehicle autonomy levels 2 through 4, with a focus on Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking (PAEB) systems. Beyond automotive, Owl AI's technology has applications in industrial, construction, agriculture, smart infrastructure, and defense markets, including for drones. The company has secured multiple government contracts and conducted pilot programs with automotive players like Honda and Hitachi. As of January 2022, Owl AI had raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by State Farm Ventures.