Hi everybody.

welcome to this holiday edition of Shift, a podcast about mobility.

I'm Pete Bigelow, your host and reporter, the Automotive News.

I have an oddball statistic for you to start this week's show. I've been looking through the Shift Archives,

and we've had many guests over the years from censor companies

that have innovated new ways to help vehicles better perceive their surroundings.

We had three such guests in 2021, two in 2022, but none this far here at the tail end of 2023.

Certainly the absence this year has to do with the uphill battle

many of the censor companies which have now gone public face.

Check out the stock prices of LIDAR companies and it's obvious that

2023 has been a tough, tough slog. But there are companies in the sensor space bucking that overall trend.

One of them is Spartan Radar, a radar technology startup that closed a $17 million round to start the year,

and now the company software can vastly

improve the resolution and performance of conventional radar units.

Matt Markle is the CEO of Spartan Radar and he is my guest today on the podcast.

Matt and I discussed the company's technology which grew out of defense applications.

We're going to talk about the state of the automotive market as far as sensors are concerned and his time

leading radar efforts at Waimo. And bonus, rumor has it that Matt throws an excellent Christmas party

and I'm going to ask him about that too. So let's get right to it. I am pleased to bring you today this conversation with Spartan Radar CEO Matt Markle.

Matt, welcome to the podcast.

It's great to have you here.

Hey Pete, thank you so much.

...