Honda collaborates with Helm.ai to promote a pure vision solution for autonomous driving, raising over 100 million in financing to challenge Tesla

According to Zhitong Finance APP, Helm.ai, a company supported by Honda Motor (HMC.US), officially launched its camera-based pure vision urban environment interpretation system, Helm.ai Vision, on Thursday, June 19, marking a key step in the field of autonomous driving technology. The company announced that it is in talks with other automakers with the goal of promoting this advanced autonomous driving technology to the mass market.

Currently, Helm.ai is collaborating with Honda Motor to integrate its technology into the upcoming Honda Zero series electric vehicles, set to launch in 2026. This technology will empower users to achieve hands-free driving and allow them to take their eyes off the road under certain conditions.

Vladislav Voroninski, CEO and founder of Helm.ai, revealed in an interview: "We are indeed in negotiations with several original equipment manufacturers and are steadily advancing the application of technology in production." Its business model focuses on licensing software and foundational model software to automakers, thereby achieving widespread application and commercial value of the technology.

Headquartered in California, this startup's vision-first technology path aligns with Elon Musk's Tesla (TSLA.US), which also relies on camera-based systems to build its autonomous driving technology framework. Musk believes that the use of other sensors, such as lidar and radar, significantly increases costs, while camera systems can provide effective environmental perception capabilities while controlling costs. Nevertheless, Voroninski stated that while the company has foundational models that can work in conjunction with other sensors, the core product remains vision-centric, highlighting its unique advantages and focus in visual technology.

However, industry experts have raised differing opinions, emphasizing the importance of other sensors in ensuring the safety of autonomous driving. These sensors can serve as reliable backups to cameras, as camera performance may be limited under special conditions such as low visibility, at which point other sensors can play a critical role in ensuring accurate perception of the surrounding environment and safe driving.

In the field of autonomous driving, companies like Waymo and May Mobility, under Alphabet (GOOGL.US), adopt a multi-sensor combination strategy that integrates radar, lidar, and cameras to achieve comprehensive perception of the surrounding environment. This diversified sensor configuration aims to enhance the system's redundancy and reliability, reducing risks associated with the failure or performance limitations of a single sensor.

As of now, Helm.ai has successfully raised $102 million in funding. Its investor lineup is strong, including Goodyear Ventures, South Korean auto parts manufacturer Sungwoo HiTech, and Amplo, among others. These investments not only provide solid financial support for the company's technology research and market expansion but also reflect the industry's recognition of Helm.ai's technological potential The Helm.ai Vision system generates a bird's-eye view by integrating images captured by multiple cameras, greatly optimizing the vehicle's planning and control systems. This innovative visual processing method helps vehicles better understand complex urban traffic environments, leading to more reasonable driving decisions.

In addition, the system has been optimized for multiple hardware platforms produced by companies such as NVIDIA (NVDA.US) and Qualcomm (QCOM.US), which means that automakers can seamlessly integrate Helm.ai Vision into existing vehicle system architectures, working in conjunction with the manufacturers' independently developed technologies for predicting and planning vehicle movements, achieving higher levels of autonomous driving capabilities