China’s SenseTime says daily users of its augmented reality tech number 100 mln
BEIJING, Aug 20 – China’s SenseTime, which sells
augmented reality technology to other companies, has seen global
daily active users of that tech grow to 100 million from its
launch of the business in 2016, a company executive said.
Augmented reality (AR) features allow users to apply filters
or effects such as cat ears or photos or even livestreamed video
to visual content. Apps that employ SenseTime’s AR tech include
Twitter-like Weibo, video site Bilibili and
social e-commerce app Xiaohongshu.
The artificial intelligence company is best known for its
facial recognition technology and has been on a Washington trade
blacklist since 2019. It is aiming to raise as much as $2
billion in a Hong Kong IPO https://www.reuters.com/technology/chinese-ai-startup-sensetime-file-hong-kong-ipo-by-end-august-sources-2021-08-19,
sources have said.
Wang Xiaogang, co-founder and head of research at SenseTime,
told Reuters in an interview that in addition to China, the
company’s AR effects were also popular in Southeast Asian
countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.
He also said SenseTime was combining its AR capabilities
with its smart driving technology.
It has helped develop AR mini-buses that feature level 4
autonomous driving technology – where a vehicle can handle all
aspects of driving in most circumstances with no human
intervention – as well as AR effects that can be used, say to
show passengers relevant commercials on their windows as they
pass a particular site or photos of how a street used to look in
the past.
Some of the buses are currently being operated in China’s
eastern city of Wuxi.
“We first implemented AR effects online, and now we are
trying to apply more AR offline,” said Wang.
Wang anticipates SenseTime’s smart driving technology will
be installed on 20 million cars over the next seven years and it
has secured contracts with Chinese automakers like BYD
and Great Wall Motor.
Wang declined to comment on how much SenseTime earns from
its AR or smart driving tech.
In placing SenseTime on its trade blacklist, the United
States has alleged the company has played a role in human rights
abuses against Muslim minority groups in China. SenseTime has
denied the allegations.
Last year, the company raised $1.5 billion in a private
funding round at a $10 billion valuation. It counts Qualcomm
, Alibaba, SoftBank’s Vision Fund and Silver
Lake Partners among its investors. REUTERS
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