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

  • Unifly acquires EuroUSC Italia for drone services
    May 12, 2025
    "Together we’re accelerating autonomous aviation," say companies
    Read More
  • University of Southampton wins IAM RoadSmart award 2017
    October 5, 2017
    The University of Southampton has won and become the first recipient of the first IAM RoadSmart Human Factors Research Award (£50, 000). The money will help fund a PhD student project for research into the training implications for drivers as vehicles become more automated. The winning submission, ‘Training Implications for Drivers of Automated Vehicles’, was written by students Neville Stanton and Katie Plant.
    Read More
  • Seeing Machines teams with TK Holdings on driver-monitoring
    September 3, 2014
    Responding to potential product opportunities from numerous global automotive manufacturers, Australian company Seeing Machines is to partner with TK Holdings, the US subsidiary of Takata in a 15 year strategic alliance on driver monitoring technology.
    Read More
  • Co-operative traffic safety system developed in Finland
    March 22, 2012
    VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Mobisoft Oy and the Finnish Meteorological Institute, with support from partners, have developed a communication system for drivers to inform them about weather and road conditions and prevent serious or fatal accidents. When there is snow or ice on the road, the risk of an accident is increased by a factor of 4.1 compared to normal conditions, according to research conducted at the Tampere University of Technology.
    Read More

Highlighted Content