#Japan #Tokyo #Robotics #SC Automotive #Lightwheel

SC Automotive Engineering Partners with Lightwheel

SC Automotive Engineering, a Tokyo-based company specializing in automotive engineering development, has announced its partnership with Lightwheel, a leader in simulation technology for AI solutions in robotics and autonomous driving. This new collaboration marks a significant step in the domestic deployment of advanced AI learning solutions that utilize robotics and self-driving technology.

The Growing Need for AI in Autonomous Systems

As the fields of robotics and autonomous driving evolve rapidly, the demand for sophisticated AI models for perception, action planning, and control systems has surged. These systems require vast and diverse datasets for training and evaluation, often exceeding what can be collected in the real world. To address this need, Lightwheel utilizes advanced simulation technologies to deliver a range of solutions that enhance AI training processes.

Robotics Solution: Embodied AI

In robotics, a critical shortage of action data for AI training has led to reliance on imitation learning, where humans teach robots new movements. However, limitations such as time and resources hinder the effective collection of data in real-world scenarios. Lightwheel overcomes these challenges with precise SimReady assets that are visually and physically accurate, ready for immediate use in simulations. Their EgoSuite offers first-person action datasets, while an evaluation platform allows for efficient robot learning and performance assessments in simulated environments.

Autonomous Driving Solution

The autonomous driving sector is increasingly embracing advanced models like End-to-End (E2E) and Vision-Language-Action (VLA), amplifying the need for visual learning and evaluation data across a spectrum of scenarios. Collecting data in the real world for hazardous scenarios or rare cases is particularly challenging. Lightwheel addresses this by reconstructing three-dimensional representations from real-world data and generating realistic simulations through synthetic data. This ensures that various driving scenarios can be replicated, facilitating effective training and evaluation for AI in autonomous vehicles.

Voices from the Leaders

Haibo Yang, President & Co-Founder of Lightwheel, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, stating, "We are excited to partner with SCAE to bring Lightwheel’s simulation technology to the Japanese automotive and robotics markets. By combining our end-to-end solutions with SCAE’s deep industry expertise, we aim to help Japanese OEMs and suppliers accelerate the development and deployment of embodied intelligence. We look forward to supporting Japan’s leadership in shaping the next generation of automotive and robotics innovation."

Toshimi Yamanoi, President of SC Automotive Engineering, commented on the advantages this partnership will bring. "We believe that the solutions we will offer through our collaboration with Lightwheel will significantly enhance the speed and efficiency of our customers' development processes. We are committed to actively introducing advanced technologies to support value creation for our clients."

SC Automotive Engineering boasts over 30 years of development experience primarily centered around automotive OEMs. The company provides design and engineering solutions to a wide array of mobility enterprises. Utilizing the global network of the Sumitomo Corporation Group, SC Automotive Engineering has successfully tackled numerous customer challenges by offering comprehensive solutions. The expertise developed in automotive sectors is now being expanded into robotics, promising enhanced value and productivity across broader domains.


President Toshimi Yamanoi of SC Automotive Engineering and President Haibo Yang of Lightwheel along with representatives during the signing ceremony.

About Lightwheel

Lightwheel stands as a global leader in synthetic data and embodied AI solutions. By integrating generative AI with simulation technologies, they create physically accurate and highly versatile datasets that speed up the implementation of embodied AI and world models. Their product range includes SimReady Assets & Scenes, Data Pyramid, and the Enterprise Evaluation Platform, which together form a comprehensive end-to-end embodiment AI solution. For more information, visit Lightwheel’s official website.

Note: Lightwheel is a registered trademark of Lightwheel Inc.
Follow Lightwheel on social media: X: @LightwheelAI, LinkedIn: /lightwheel2023/

About SC Automotive Engineering

Established in August 2020 and fully owned by the Sumitomo Corporation, SC Automotive Engineering aims to energize Japanese car manufacturing. The company employs numerous former department heads from automotive OEMs and suppliers, providing wide-ranging support for the design, prototyping, evaluation, and consulting needs of various mobility projects. Leveraging its global connections and technical skills, SC Automotive Engineering continues to collaborate with domestic and international partners to tackle the challenges of realizing a future mobility society. To learn more, visit SC Automotive Engineering’s official website.