NATIX Launches VX360: Unlocking 360° Tesla Dashcam Footage for Mapping and Autonomous Driving
Hamburg, Germany, November 26th, 2024, Chainwire
Using a DePIN model, NATIX VX360 sets a new standard in real-world data collection for highly accurate mapping solutions and safer autonomous vehicle (AV) models
NATIX Network, an AI-based DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure network) that leverages edge computing to collect real-time geospatial data, introduces VX360, a device tailored for Tesla owners to access and monetize dashcam footage, and contribute to advanced map-making, and safer and costly-effective autonomous vehicle development.
The autonomous vehicle industry has been pushing for Level 5 autonomy for decades, but a car’s full autonomous functionality can’t be implemented and tested completely before production due to a shortage of qualitative real-world footage that encompasses the complexities of human behavior on the road and “edge cases” (sudden changes in weather, unexpected obstacles, unusual traffic behaviors, or complex urban traffic patterns). This pain point led enterprises like Nvidia and Uber to invest millions in solutions focused on creating synthetic driving simulations and unpredictable scenarios. Nevertheless, no simulation can fully capture the dynamics of real-world driving – where human drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and unexpected environmental factors interact in unstructured and spontaneous ways.
“Identifying several pain points that the autonomous vehicle industry and mapping projects have with the data necessary to make new technological breakthroughs led us to develop VX360 for a better and safer future,” said NATIX CEO and co-founder Alireza Ghods. “Building a 360° camera would come at an incredible cost, and we would have to face challenges such as camera setup, calibration, and more. Tapping into Tesla’s built-in 4x sensors with DePIN makes the data accessible, affordable, and immediate.”
Unlike synthetic data that relies on approximations, VX360 offers a better solution by capturing real-world, all-encompassing data with 360° imagery from Tesla’s front, side, and rear cameras from diverse environments, giving AV developers access to the exact conditions their systems will need to handle autonomously on the road and play a pivotal role in developing safer autonomous vehicles.
Incentivizing participation in the NATIX Data Network
“The unique approach NATIX is taking with VX360 places it as the first DePIN project to enter the realm of autonomous driving and propose a new angle to making data that was previously scarce, widely available,” said Alvaro Garcia, Partner at Borderless Capital, a lead investor of NATIX. “NATIX is a prime example of how DePIN innovation can provide an efficient alternative to infrastructure-heavy verticals, where both users and data consumers can benefit.”
VX360 data is sourced from participating Tesla drivers who seamlessly upload their footage to the NATIX network, creating a naturally diverse dataset without the overhead of a company-owned fleet. NATIX has built a network of over 180k drivers and will implement its DePIN approach with VX360 to offer data diversity at a fraction of the cost through its network of connected, autonomous contributors, compared to traditional AV data collection and synthetic simulation creation. NATIX rewards Tesla drivers with $NATIX token rewards (and non-crypto rewards) for sharing their data, so drivers benefit both from direct rewards and the technological advancements powered by their data.
VX360 is also a powerful tool for map creation for up-to-the-minute mapping precision and accuracy across multiple sectors:
- This holistic view is essential for dynamic mapping applications, offering a level of spatial detail that significantly enhances route planning, ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), and even autonomous navigation systems by providing a richer, more nuanced understanding of surroundings
- From enhancing route optimization for logistics companies to offering real estate and insurance professionals hyper-local, real-time insights, VX360’s 360° imagery is the key to reliable, up-to-date, and richly detailed maps.
- Fleet management for incident documentation, driving behavior analysis, and more
With VX360, Tesla drivers gain full access to their footage, as their entire trip and sentry mode recordings are automatically uploaded to their cloud space, accessible through the VX360 companion app. Apart from this, VX360 prioritizes user control over data and privacy. Users can define private zones around sensitive locations (e.g. home or workplace), preventing footage from being recorded within these areas. VX360 excludes access to Tesla’s cabin camera, and all footage undergoes AI anonymization to remove personal identifiers (i.e. faces and number plates), maintaining user confidentiality.
Pre-orders of VX360 will be available for an early-bird price of $289.99, starting November 26, 2024, at www.natix.network/vx360-depin-dashcam
About NATIX:
Founded in Hamburg in 2020, NATIX Network is a decentralized network of smart cameras, powered by Solana and peaq. NATIX’s AI-powered app uses the phone’s camera to detect objects, collect real-time geospatial data, and map the world around us in a completely decentralized space – no additional hardware needed. NATIX’s solution leverages edge computing to analyze the data and ensure no private data is collected – by design. Network contributors are rewarded with NATIX’s native cryptocurrency, to support better driving-assistant applications (dashcam, navigation, parking availability, etc.) and improve the infrastructure around us. With over 185k registered drivers and over 100 million km covered in 1 year, NATIX is one of the fastest-growing DePIN networks globally (according to Messari’s state of DePIN report). For more information, users can visit NATIX.network