Ghost Autonomy Secures $5 Million Investment from OpenAI Startup Fund for Multi-Modal Large Language Models in Autonomous Driving

Ghost Autonomy, a scalable autonomy software for consumer cars, has announced a $5 million investment from the OpenAI Startup Fund. The funds will be utilized to advance research and development in bringing large-scale, multi-modal large language models (MLLMs) to the realm of autonomous driving. This investment propels Ghost Autonomy's total funding to date to $220 million.

Empowering Autonomous Driving with Multi-Modal Large Language Models

The investment aims to leverage the potential of multi-modal models, combining video, images, and sounds to enhance large language models' applicability in autonomous driving. MLLMs introduce a new architectural paradigm for self-driving software, capable of comprehensively understanding and navigating through complex driving scenarios, including rare and unprecedented situations.

Advancing the State of Autonomous Driving

MLLMs have the capacity to extend the capabilities of autonomous driving systems beyond the limitations of existing single-task networks. By utilizing broad-based world knowledge, these models enable autonomous vehicles to reason about driving scenes holistically, addressing challenges associated with diverse and intricate environments.

Ghost Autonomy's Vision

John Hayes, the Founder and CEO of Ghost Autonomy, envisions MLLMs as a breakthrough in solving complex urban driving scenarios at scale. While acknowledging the value of MLLMs in offline tasks like data labeling and simulation, Ghost Autonomy is excited to apply these powerful models directly to the driving task, unlocking their full potential in real-world scenarios.

Collaboration with Automakers

Ghost Autonomy serves as a software partner to leading automakers, facilitating the integration of artificial intelligence and advanced autonomous driving software into the next generation of vehicles. The company's platform, which is actively being tested via its development fleet, aims to bring MLLMs into the autonomy stack, validating and integrating new large models in collaboration with automakers.

About Ghost Autonomy

• Founded: 2017
• Founder and CEO: John Hayes
• Headquarters: Mountain View, CA, with additional offices in Detroit, Dallas, and Sydney
• Focus: Ghost Autonomy specializes in developing autonomous driving software for consumer cars, serving as a software partner to automakers. The company is at the forefront of integrating multi-modal large language models (MLLMs) into autonomy, enabling vehicles to navigate a wide range of complex driving scenarios.

The collaboration with the OpenAI Startup Fund signifies Ghost Autonomy's commitment to advancing the future of autonomous driving through innovative applications of artificial intelligence.