Silicon Valley comes to Parma

VisLab, a spin-off of the University of Parma, Italy, has been acquired by US image processing systems developer Ambarella for US$30 million. VisLab, founded in 2009 and managed by Alberto Broggi, professor of the Department of Information Engineering, specialises in computer vision software, particularly for automotive applications. The company has won several awards for its research and for its challenges such as the 15,000 kilometres autonomous vehicle driving test from Parma to Shanghai in 2010.
July 13, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
7085 VisLab, a spin-off of the University of Parma, Italy, has been acquired by US image processing systems developer Ambarella for US$30 million.

VisLab, founded in 2009 and managed by Alberto Broggi, professor of the Department of Information Engineering, specialises in computer vision software, particularly for automotive applications. The company has won several awards for its research and for its challenges such as the 15,000 kilometres autonomous vehicle driving test from Parma to Shanghai in 2010.
 
In 2014, VisLab developed DEEVA, the latest prototype equipped with sensors and video cameras capable of perceiving and interpreting real time movements and objects around it and consequently deciding autonomously where to move at which speed.

VisLab believes the commercialisation of such technologies will revolutionise road transportation and will especially help increase road safety by reducing accidents caused by the human factor, or driver distraction and irresponsible attitudes

As part of the acquisition, VisLab and its research team will remain in Italy.

“We have constantly improved our technology through a series of road tests, such as the 2013 tour of Parma (from the University Campus to Piazzale della Pilotta) made by an autonomous self-driving vehicle without any human intervention,” says Professor Broggi. “Now, we are ready for industrialisation.”

“Computer vision is an area of significant focus for Ambarella and for our market,” says Fermi Wang, CEO of Ambarella. “It is very important for us to work in synergy with the University of Parma, where VisLab has been developed”.
Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • UK Autodrive consortium to develop driverless cars
    December 9, 2014
    An Arup-led consortium, UK Autodrive, has won the UK Government’s US$15.6 million ‘Introducing Driverless Cars’ competition. Other members of the consortium are Milton Keynes Council, Coventry Council, Jaguar Land Rover, Ford Motor Company, Tata Motors European Technical Centre, RDM Group, MIRA, Oxbotica, AXA, international law firm Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, the Transport Systems Catapult, the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and the Open University. The aim of the project is to establis
    Read More
  • ANPR developments in the Spanish market
    February 2, 2012
    Gonzalo García Palacios, R&D engineer with Quality Information Systems, writes about ANPR developments in the Spanish market In an increasing number of countries, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems are a growing market. They have become a fundamental part of many ITS systems, whether publicly or privately owned, and essential to any user which looks seriously to give the best services to its customers or wants to improve its facilities' performance.
    Read More
  • Panasonic gets connected on The Ray
    June 5, 2020
    A stretch of rural Georgia highway called The Ray is a particularly useful testbed for V2X technology. Panasonic’s Chris Armstrong tells Adam Hill what’s so special about it
    Read More
  • The effectiveness of roads policing
    March 6, 2015
    The Joint Roads Policing Unit of Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary in the UK commissioned the Transport Research laboratory (TRL) to evaluate the effectiveness of their roads policing strategy in terms of reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured in road collisions. The focus was on the fatal four causes of collisions: speeding, drink-driving, not wearing a seat belt and drivers using mobile phones. TRL carried out a detailed literature review, in-depth review and analysis of
    Read More

Highlighted Content