- Autonomous driving startup Bluespace.ai announced it raised $3.5 million in a seed round of funding led by Fusion Fund
Bluespace.ai — an autonomous driving startup that is focused on mass transit — announced that it has raised $3.5 million in a seed round of funding led by Fusion Fund. YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, UMC, Kakao Ventures, GDP Ventures, Atinum, Wasabi Ventures, Blue Ivy Ventures, Plug n Play.
How does Bluespace.ai work? Bluespace.ai is known for developing software systems for autonomous mass transit fleets and the company is working with officials at cities and transit organizations.
The founding team of the company includes CEO Joel Pazhayampallil. Pazhayampallil was previously the co-founder of Drive.ai (acquired by Apple). Bluespace.ai president and COO Christine Moon was previously the head of partnerships for Google’s Nexus program.
Bluespace.ai’s team has previously worked at autonomous vehicle companies like Zoox, Lyft Level 5, and Voyage. And they also have experience at autonomous vehicle fleets in Texas, California, and Florida.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Moon said that Bluespace.ai’s software enables verifiably safe autonomous vehicle operation without the millions of miles of testing needed for current generation autonomous vehicles. “This enables our mission of making urban mobility more equitable, accessible and sustainable through mass transit automation in the near term,” wrote Moon via TechCrunch.
Moon pointed out that Bluespace.ai’s specific focus is increasing the “overall ability and efficiency across trunk transit routes with higher rider capacity.” Many other startups are focused on first- and last-mile goals for slow-speed vehicles that are part of the main transit systems, Moon said that Bluespace.ai’s is aiming to safely enable full-size vehicles that are able to travel on public roads at a full speed.
“After looking at many investment opportunities in the AV space, we found that BlueSpace stood out with their revolutionary technology approach and providing near term market application. The founding team has an incredibly strong technology background and significant deployment experience, having launched AV services in Florida, Texas and California,” added Fusion Fund managing partner Lu Zhang.
