Sydney company Advanced Navigation has raised $20 million to further development of navigation and robotics technology used by the likes of NASA, Airbus and Tesla.

Advanced Navigation touts its use of an artificial intelligence algorithm to produce navigation products it claims are smaller, more accurate and more reliable than incumbent products. Its inertial navigation systems are designed for defence applications, underground navigation, surveying and robotics, among other uses.

Engineers Xavier Orr and Chris Shaw founded the company in 2012. Since then, the company has also supplied products to Boeing, Google, Apple and General Motors. Its product are also used by four of the ”top five” car manufacturers and nine of the “largest ten” defence companies.

The new investment comes from the CSIRO’s Innovation Fund manager Main Sequence Ventures, and US venture capital firms Brick & Mortar Ventures and In-Q-Tel.

Brick & Mortar Ventures Principal, Curtis Rodgers, said he saw potential for Advanced Navigation’s technology in the construction industry. His firm raised US$97 million earlier this year for a construction technology fund.

“The ultra-precise navigation and positioning capabilities of Advanced Navigation’s technologies have a number of potential applications in construction and adjacent industries,” Rodgers stated.

Advanced Navigation’s products also include underwater acoustics, GPS, radio frequency systems and sensors.

The company points to self-driving cars, robotics, autonomous drones and submersibles, as potential uses for its AI-based navigation technology. It also sees potential aerospace, defence, marine and subsea applications.

The new investment will fund a “significant global expansion” and research and development. Advanced Navigation has a sales office in the US and a research facility in Perth.