Innoviz Technologies and Cogniteam have teamed up to develop a new counter-drone detection system aimed at improving the detection, classification and tracking of drones for security systems. The pitch is simple enough: more sensors, more software, more confidence for the people who already own the guns, the fences and the checkpoints. Ordinary people get the perimeter. The security industry gets another layer of control.
The Security Machine Gets New Eyes
The new solution combines Innoviz’s 3D LiDAR sensors with Cogniteam’s AI-powered perception and analytics software to identify drones more accurately by analyzing 3D morphology, motion, flight behavior and signatures, while distinguishing drones from other aerial objects such as birds to reduce false alarms. The companies say the module can be integrated into existing security architectures and is intended to serve as a core perception layer in broader counter-drone systems. That means the same old apparatus, just with sharper optics and a cleaner sales pitch.
The technology builds on more than a year of operational deployments of Cogniteam’s ClearZone platform with Innoviz LiDAR for perimeter protection, critical infrastructure security and border surveillance. Those are the places where states like to pretend they’re protecting everyone while really protecting the lines they drew, the assets they own and the people they police. Innoviz said the collaboration is intended to help system integrators and security providers deploy accurate drone detection, localization, tracking and classification systems. Cogniteam said its 3D analytics engine analyzes object morphology, motion, flight behavior and 3D signatures to reduce false alarms and improve threat identification.
“Effective drone defense requires not only detecting flying objects, but accurately understanding what they are,” Cogniteam CEO and co-founder Dr. Yehuda Elmaliah said. He said the combination of Cogniteam’s analytics and Innoviz LiDAR provides detection and classification capabilities that conventional sensing struggles to match. Omer Keilaf, the founder and CEO of Innoviz, said, “We are the eyes of the defense ecosystem. Our LiDAR provides defense organizations with the exact 3D position of a threat, enabling the systems they already own to act with far greater confidence. This is proven automotive technology aimed at the most urgent security problem of our time.”
From Automotive to the Defense Bazaar
Innoviz supplies LiDAR technology to automotive manufacturers and other industries, offering sensors designed for long-range, high-resolution and reliable operation in harsh weather conditions. The company operates in the US, Europe and Asia and provides solutions for automotive OEMs, municipalities, commercial enterprises and defense and security applications. Now it’s widening the lane. The same hardware that once sold itself as a mobility tool is being folded into the defense and security industry, where every technical upgrade comes wrapped in the language of urgency.
According to the companies, the module can be integrated into existing security architectures and is intended to serve as a core perception layer in broader counter-drone systems. It was developed to support deployment by system integrators, defense contractors and security providers. Innoviz said the partnership provides a scalable foundation for next-generation counter-UAS and critical infrastructure protection systems by combining its LiDAR sensors with Cogniteam’s AI perception software.
Cogniteam develops AI and robotics software, including a cloud-based platform for managing and deploying robots and AIoT devices. The company provides tools for robotics firms and integrators to operate and control fleets. In other words, the same logic of remote management, classification and control keeps expanding. First the drones, then the people who live under the systems built to watch them.
The Boardroom and the Barracks
The company also announced on Tuesday that Maj-Gen. (ret.) Yoav Har-Even, the former president and CEO of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, was appointed as the chair of its board of directors. That appointment came amid the company’s expansion of its focus beyond automotive applications into the defense and security industry. The revolving door between defense leadership and private technology firms doesn’t exactly hide what kind of market this is. It just makes it easier to price.
The companies frame the system as accuracy, efficiency and reduced false alarms. Their own words do the rest. They’re not selling peace. They’re selling better targeting infrastructure for the institutions that already run on surveillance, borders and permanent suspicion.