PARC Spins Off Pioneering Wireless Technology Company Metawave

Metawave to Commercialize Beamsteering Systems for Autonomous Vehicles and 5G Markets

PARC, a Xerox company, recently announced it is spinning off Metawave Corporation — a breakthrough wireless technology start-up, which builds technology solutions based on engineered metamaterials and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Bringing its team of core researchers, known industry leadership, and the legacy of PARC, Metawave will commercialize smart beamsteering antenna systems for autonomous vehicles and 5G markets. Incubated at PARC, Metawave secured significant initial seed funding from leading investors in Silicon Valley and New York.

Dr. Maha Achour, Metawave’s CEO and Dr. Bernard Casse, CTO founded the company with the vision of disrupting the status quo in wireless technology, by merging adaptive metamaterials and AI in order to reach performance and safety levels currently unattainable with today’s technologies. Dr. Achour has 20 years leadership experience in RF, wireless, metamaterial structures, optics, and networking industries in commercial and defense sectors. Dr. Casse brings 10 years of experience commercializing fundamental science, and has pioneered the innovative beamsteering technology with his former PARC metamaterials applied research team.

Today’s automotive radars are limited — they can’t discriminate objects, do not work well at long ranges and in difficult conditions, and have relatively slow processing speeds. Combining ultra-fast beamsteering/scanning of a pencil beam with intelligent algorithms enables unprecedented capabilities like 3D imaging, identification and classification of objects, non-line-of-sight object detection, and accident anticipation by analyzing traffic patterns, with smart functionality in all-weather conditions. These capabilities represent the future of automotive radar, which will make self-driving cars a reality.

“This spinoff embodies PARC’s unparalleled commitment to the startup community, and its role in the development and extension of PARC’s world-class innovation ecosystem,” said Metawave’s CEO Dr. Achour. “Metawave is fundamentally changing the way the automotive industry thinks about radars. We are on a mission to build highly intelligent and high-performing automotive radars capable of true 3D vision, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication.”

Building on intellectual property developed at PARC, Metawave is working with leading automotive companies to advance its Metamaterial Frequency-Adaptive Steering Technology (M-FAST) platform to lead the industry’s transformation. Metawave will also work with global telecommunications infrastructure vendors and service providers to accelerate 5G deployments. The use of M-FAST in cellular networks will yield intelligent radio interfaces, enabling networks to support a massive number of devices that demand more bandwidth, all at a reasonable cost.

“Working with distinguished PARC researchers, Metawave is poised to provide one of the missing pieces to the autonomous driving safety puzzle, while answering the need for resilient, faster and affordable 4G and 5G networks,” said PARC’s CEO Dr. Tolga Kurtoglu.

PARC has successfully incubated a variety of startups over the past 40 years to deliver breakthrough technology research and bring products to market. PARC’s work with external startups and internally incubated organizations goes beyond the boundaries of traditional entrepreneur-in-residence programs, which typically import industry experts to develop pre-defined commercial opportunities. PARC instead creates a customized partnership for each venture, which could include technical expertise, intellectual property, facilities resources, lab space, available research, and more. In exchange, PARC receives cash, royalties, equity, license fees, or a combination. More than 30 companies have gone to market via PARC, including PowerCloud Systems, Meshin, SolFocus, Powerset, and others.

About Metawave
Metawave is a wireless technology company that seeks to revolutionize the future of wireless communications and radar sensing. Leveraging adaptive metamaterials and AI, Metawave’s primary focus is to build intelligent beamsteering radars for autonomous driving. Changing the way automakers think about radar, Metawave is building high-performance radars capable of 3D imaging and vehicle-to-vehicle communication, making cars safer, smarter, and more connected. In parallel, Metawave is developing smart beamsteering antennas for 4G and 5G networks to provide faster networks and near-instant connectivity for billions of users. Metawave’s current flagship beamsteering technology platform was developed at PARC. Founded in 2017, Metawave is located in PARC’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. For more information, visit www.metawave.co.

About PARC
PARC, a Xerox company, is in the Business of Breakthroughs. Practicing open innovation, we provide custom R&D services, technology, expertise, best practices, and intellectual property to Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, startups, and government agencies and partners. We create new business options, accelerate time to market, augment internal capabilities, and reduce risk for our clients. Since its inception, PARC has pioneered many technology platforms – from the Ethernet and laser printing to the GUI and ubiquitous computing – and has enabled the creation of many industries. Incorporated as an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox in 2002, PARC today continues the research that enables breakthroughs for our clients' businesses. For more information, visit www.parc.com.