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The automotive industry is witnessing rapid changes in how it provides mobility to a massive proportion of the population. The need for minimizing emissions, increasing levels of autonomous functionality, and providing a more connected experience pressures engineers to develop simulation software rather than physical prototypes.
As the number of electrified autonomous vehicles rises, simulation allows firms to test integrated hardware for ultrasonic sensors, cameras, or lidar for automated systems. Applied Intuition is one of the prominent companies offering world-class simulation solutions for autonomous vehicles.
This article sheds light on essential details of Applied Intuition- its founders, startup story, funding, investors, growth, competitors, and more.
Applied Intuition – Company Highlights
| Company Name | Applied Intuition |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Mountain View, California, United States |
| Sector | Software Development |
| Founders | Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig |
| Founded In | 2017 |
| Revenue | $3.5B (2022) |
| Website | Appliedintuition.com |
Applied Intuition – About
Applied Intuition – Founders and Team
Applied Intuition – Startup Story
Applied Intuition – Mission and Vision
Applied Intuition – Business Model
Applied Intuition – Products and Services
Applied Intuition – Funding and Investors
Applied Intuition – Mergers and Acquisitions
Applied Intuition – Patents and Trademarks
Applied Intuition – Growth
Applied Intuition – Partners
Applied Intuition – Competitors
Applied Intuition – About
Applied Intuition is involved in developing simulation software for autonomous vehicles (AV). The company has made it faster, safer, and easier to bring autonomy to the automotive industry by offering a suite of simulation, validation, and drive log management software.
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, it has offices located in LA, Washington, Stockholm, Detroit, Munich, Tokyo, and Seoul. Applied Intuition provides custom solutions for small to large-sized companies across industries, from automotive, aerial, and trucking to agriculture and defense. Out of 20 global OEMs, 17 rely on the company's solutions to develop, test, and deploy autonomous systems at scale.
Applied Intuition – Founders and Team
Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig founded Applied Intuition in 2017.
Qasar Younis
Qasar Younis attended Kettering University for BSc in Mechanical Engineering and Harvard Business School for MBA. He is the ex-Founder and ex-CEO of TalkBin. Moreover, he worked at Google as Group Product Manager, Google Maps.
Before co-founding Applied Intuition, he was Y Combinator's General Partner and Chief Operating Officer. Currently, he is the CEO of Applied Intuition.
Peter Ludwig
Peter Ludwig attended the University of Michigan for BSc and MSc in Engineering, Computer Science. He has been a Software Engineer Intern at NVIDIA and Microsoft.
He also worked as Product Manager and SWE at Google; in 2017, he co-founded Applied Intuition and is the company's CTO.
Applied Intuition currently employs more than 320 employees.
Applied Intuition – Startup Story
Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig grew up in the backyard of American automotive giant General Motors in Detroit and crossed paths when working as product managers at Google. Peter was planning to start his third company. When making the list of potential co-founders, he thought of approaching Qasar.
First, they planned to start an Autonomous Vehicles (AV) company, but in 2013 concluded that it was not a good business idea. In 2016, Peter and Qasar had a casual conversation and came up with the idea of starting a software business. They figured out if they could run a business in software in the automotive industry. In 2017, they developed an idea of inventing software for autonomous vehicle simulation and set up Applied Intuition.
In 2022, the company started helping manufacturers simulate and test the mechanical parts of their automobiles in different environments.
Applied Intuition – Mission and Vision
Applied Intuition aims to accelerate the world's adoption of safe and intelligent machines.
Applied Intuition – Business Model
Applied Intuition provides software - Simian for autonomous vehicle simulation. The software imports maps and the behavioral objects for each region of those maps and creates real-world scenarios. Moreover, it has a scenario editor enabling clients to test thousands of scenarios on the vehicle and debug their autonomous vehicle software if an error occurs.
Applied Intuition also offers analytics software to allow clients to evaluate their autonomous vehicle metrics and view the data that is collected during scenario testing. This data lets clients plan for future test drives. Additionally, the company provides consulting and support services to help businesses implement and integrate their software tools into the customer's development process.
Mansi Maheshwari
Applied Intuition – Products and Services
Applied Intuition classifies its products offerings into four categories:
- Simulation: Simian, Spectral, Logstream, and Orbis
- Vehicle Dynamics: carSIM, truckSIM, suspensionSIM, and bikeSIM
- Data & Maps: Strada, Synthetic Datasets, Traffic Sign Datasets, and Meridian
- Validation: Basis and Applied Test Suites
The company provides solutions, including Perception & Localization, Planning & Control, Map Creation, Scenario Creation, Log Visualization & Triage, Vehicle Dynamics, and more.
Applied Intuition – Funding and Investors
Applied Intuition has undertaken 5 funding rounds and raised a total funding of $351.5 million. Its latest funding round - Series D Round, was conducted on November 11, 2021, and raised $175 million. The company is backed by prominent investors- Andreessen Horowitz, Hemant Taneja, Mike Maples, Eld Gil, Bilal Zuberi, Lee Fixel, Semil Shah, and Jeannette Zu Furstenberg.
| Date | Round | Number of Investors | Money Raised | Lead Investor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 11, 2021 | Series D | 7 | $175 million | Addition, Coatue |
| October 22, 2020 | Series C | 4 | $125 million | Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Lux Capital |
| September 12, 2019 | Series B | 12 | $40 million | General Catalyst |
| September 12, 2018 | Series A | 7 | $11.5 million | Andreessen Horowitz |
| September 5, 2017 | Seed Round | 2 | - | - |
Applied Intuition – Mergers and Acquisitions
Applied Intuition acquired 2 companies- SceneBox on March 21, 2023, and Mechanical Simulation Corporation on March 2014, 2022.
Applied Intuition – Patents and Trademarks
The intellectual property of Applied Intuition comprises 2 registered patents with 'Computing; Calculating' as the primary category and 21 registered trademarks with 'Scientific and Electric Apparatus and Instruments' as the most popular class.
Applied Intuition – Growth
The estimated annual revenue of Applied Intuition in 2020 was $60.1 million ($186,635 revenue per employee), with its valuation standing at $3.6 billion. The company's employee count rose 75% last year, and the monthly web visits rate increased to 6.19% with 33,166 visits.
Applied Intuition – Partners
Applied Intuition has partnered with:
- LG Electronics
- Ambarella
- Virtual Mechanics Corporation
- Ouster
- Nissan
- Seegrid
Applied Intuition – Competitors
Applied Intuition is ranked 2nd among its 64 active competitors. Some of its competitors are:
- aiMotive
- Wayve
- Cognata
- Aurora
- Intvo
- Zoox
- Momenta
- Flux Auto
- Waabi
FAQs
What does Applied Intuition do?
Applied Intuition is involved in developing simulation software for autonomous vehicles (AV). The company has made it faster, safer, and easier to bring autonomy to the automotive industry by offering a suite of simulation, validation, and drive log management software.
Who founded Applied Intuition?
Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig founded Applied Intuition in 2017.
Who are the main competitors of Applied Intuition?
Some of Applied Intuition's competitors are:
- aiMotive
- Wayve
- Cognata
- Aurora
- Intvo
- Zoox
- Momenta
- Flux Auto
- Waabi
