Blackmore Sensors and Analytics

Blackmore Sensors and Analytics, Inc. operated as a developer of frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) lidar sensors and accompanying analytics software, primarily targeting the autonomous vehicle market. The company was founded in 2015 by Randy Reibel and was based in Bozeman, Montana. It originated as a spin-off from Bridger Photonics, a research and development firm. The founding team had over a decade of prior experience working together on coherent lidar for U.S. Department of Defense applications.

Blackmore’s business centered on providing perception technology crucial for autonomous systems. Its clients included automotive manufacturers and autonomous driving teams developing advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and fully autonomous vehicles. The company secured significant funding to advance its technology, including a $3.5 million Series A round in 2016 and an $18 million Series B round in 2018, with investors such as BMW i Ventures and Toyota AI Ventures. This capital was aimed at scaling production to meet the growing demand from the self-driving industry.

The company's core product was a next-generation FMCW lidar system. Unlike traditional amplitude-modulated lidar, which only measures distance, Blackmore's technology could simultaneously measure both the range and velocity of an object on a point-by-point basis. This was achieved by using coherent detection to analyze the Doppler shift in the returning laser signal, essentially bringing the advanced capabilities of modern radar into the optical domain. Key benefits included superior long-range performance (detecting objects over 400 meters away), immunity to interference from sunlight and other lidar systems, and single-photon sensitivity. This functionality provided self-driving systems with a richer dataset to navigate more safely and reliably, especially in challenging, all-weather conditions. In May 2019, Blackmore was acquired by Aurora Innovation, a prominent autonomous vehicle technology company, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition integrated Blackmore's 70-person team and its FMCW lidar technology into Aurora's full-stack self-driving system, with Randy Reibel becoming Aurora's Vice President of Lidar.

Keywords: FMCW lidar, autonomous vehicles, Doppler lidar, sensor technology, automotive perception, advanced driver-assistance systems, coherent detection, ADAS sensors, Randy Reibel, Aurora Innovation acquisition, self-driving cars, optical sensors, velocity measurement, remote sensing, photonic hardware, automotive technology, lidar analytics, autonomous systems, sensor fusion, vehicle safety technology