CMU's Edge Case Research has raised capital from Ansys, Lockheed Martin and Liberty Mutual to use AI for solving complex safety issues in autonomous technologies.

Edge Case Research, a US-based developer of autonomous technology safety products spun out of Carnegie Mellon University,  raised $7m yesterday in a round co-led by engineering simulation and design software firm Ansys. Private investor Chris Urmson co-led the round, which featured Lockheed Martin Ventures and Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, respective investment arms of aerospace company Lockheed Martin and insurance firm Liberty Mutual, as well as Trucks Venture Capital and Blue Tree Allied Angels. Founded in 2018, Edge Case Research has devised an artificial intelligence-powered technology called Hologram that helps manufacturers of autonomous vehicles and other automated systems identify complex safety concerns. The funding will support further development of Edge Case’s product, which is intended to pick up faults and collisions that would elude the standard algorithms powering autonomous technologies. Edge Case was invited by global safety science company Underwriters Laboratories to help draft a new safety standard for autonomous products, UL 4600, due to be completed in late 2019. Urmson and Matt Zack, vice-president of corporate marketing and business development at Ansys, have joined the spinout’s board of directors. Edge Case was co-founded by chief technology officer Philip Koopman, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

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