Japanese drone solution provider announces commercial launch of drone product powered by Kudan Lidar SLAM

Kudan Inc. (headquarters in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; CEO Daiu Ko), a global leader in advanced SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) technology, is pleased to announce that a drone solution provider from Japan, operating for the global market, has decided to commercially release its product powered by Kudan Lidar SLAM (KdLidar).

Aerial 3D surveying using drones is in growing demand in the civil engineering, construction, and infrastructure industries as an efficient and low-cost approach. However, conventional 3D surveying with drones, which are not adopted by SLAM technology but only used by Lidar, cannot perform continuous mapping from the air to the ground in environments where drones cannot fly or GNSS/GPS cannot reach, and this has been an operational challenge.

This product uses Kudan’s SLAM technology and can be generalized as a mapping device that is usable not only mounted on a drone but also hand-held, enabling continuous mapping from the ground by transferring the sensor to a hand-held device, in addition to conventional mapping from the air. As a result, this enables efficient 3D surveying with the same system in forests, civil engineering sites, urban areas, and other environments where a drone alone could not create a comprehensive digital map to the ground.

These cutting-edge projects need software technology that could be flexibly integrated with the hardware configurations required by the customer, and Kudan’s technology, which provides commercial-grade SLAM algorithms for mobile mapping, has been selected. Demand for advanced SLAM technology for mobile mapping, including drones, is growing, and Kudan will continue to contribute to the spread and advancement of mobile mapping products in Japan and globally.

Customer information and product details will be disclosed in the future.

Schedule

(1) Date of the announcement of the product release:	January 23, 2024
(2) Date of the product release (expected):	Spring, 2024

About Kudan Inc.
Kudan is a deep tech research and development company specializing in algorithms for artificial perception (AP). As a complement to artificial intelligence (AI), AP functions allow machines to develop autonomy. Currently, Kudan is using its high-level technical innovation to explore business areas based on its own milestone models established for deep tech which provide wide-ranging impact on several major industrial fields.
For more information, please refer to Kudan’s website at https://www.kudan.io/.

■Company Details
Name: Kudan Inc.
Securities Code: 4425 (TSE Growth)
Representative: CEO Daiu Ko

■For more details, please contact us from here.