Magna International Inc. has added more than 120 employees of Optimus Ride, a provider of autonomous vehicle and mobility solutions located in Boston, to enhance Magna’s capabilities in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

“Growing our engineering bench strength in sensing hardware and software helps accelerate our path forward in a rapidly growing ADAS market,” said John O’Hara, President of Magna Electronics. “As advancements in autonomy continue, we saw an opportunity to bring in additional expertise to support current programs as well as future customer needs.”

Optimus Ride develops autonomous vehicle technology and mobility services for residential communities, corporate and academic campuses, and mixed-use developments. Its technology and mobility experts partner with community and transit teams to deliver end-to-end mobility solutions that unlock operational efficiencies and improve rider experiences.

In July, the company announced it will receive up to $4.3 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to launch the first autonomous vehicle system at Clemson University, marking one of the largest autonomous shuttle deployments in the U.S. In support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050, this deployment is the sole AV project in the DOE’s $60 million effort to fund 24 research and development projects that are looking to decarbonize the transportation sector.

The Magna-acquired employees will remain in the Seaport district, establishing a Boston-based engineering center and presence for Magna in a community rich in engineering talent, leading academic institutions, and robotics. The contributions expected from the Optimus Ride employees will be valuable as Magna strengthens and positions itself as a global ADAS provider with comprehensive capabilities. It is also the most significant ADAS-related news from Magna since it lost the bidding war to acquire Veoneer, Inc. to Qualcomm Inc. in October.

Magna is keen to move forward with ADAS technologies like its industry-first digital radar set to launch in 2022. In combination with the Optimus Ride talent addition and its expertise in cameras, solid-state lidar, and domain controllers, the company is hoping to provide a full-system approach to automakers.

The ICON digital radar, which won a CES 2022 Best of Innovation Award in the Vehicle Intelligence and Transportation category, will debut on the Fisker Ocean. In addition to vehicle and pedestrian detection, the technology can identify low-lying objects and open pathways on crowded, multi-lane roads. It enhances a vehicle’s ability to “see” its surroundings and detect potential dangers, from a stalled car in a dark tunnel to a pedestrian up to 150 m (492 ft) away.

Magna and Uhnder partnered to develop the technology, which continuously scans its environment in four dimensions, resulting in higher resolution and better contrast than analog radar. The radar can sense moving or standing objects, whether large or small, at both short and long distances.

In addition, it eliminates interference concerns experienced by today’s analog radar by using unique codes embedded into the signal it transmits. Effectively, no two radars in the world would have the same code.

Magna’s ADAS-related expertise extends inside the vehicle with a driver monitoring system that integrates an interior mirror and camera-based technology to monitor a driver’s head, eye, and body movement to detect distracted behavior, drowsiness, and fatigue. The monitoring technology is becoming increasingly important to enable the safe operation of higher-level ADAS systems.