Why are investors and technology industry optimistic about laser radar?

The popular LiDAR (Light Imaging, Detection, and ranging, Lidar) sensors have attracted investors and technology industry. They can be used not only in ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and self-driving cars, but also in other applications such as drones, industrial automation, mapping, and robotics.

It is too early to talk about LiDAR's market share in the automotive sector as large suppliers are still struggling to make their products more cost effective in ADAS and autonomous driving applications. LiDAR startups are emerging globally in Silicon Valley, Israel, China, etc. If given enough time and money, some of them can grow into industry leaders.

How hot is LiDAR investment?

According to the previous news from Mames Consulting, in the past month alone, the LiDAR field has completed three financings, totaling $216 million:

- Israeli startup Oryx Vision completed a $50 million Series B round of financing, bringing its total financing to $67 million in 15 months;

- Another Israeli startup, Innoviz, has just completed a $65 million Series B round of financing, including Delphi and Magna, a company that was just established last year and has a total financing of 74 million. Dollar

- Canada's LiDAR (Lidar) pioneer LeddarTech recently completed a total of $101 million in Series C financing, led by Osram (Osram), Delphi (Delphi), Magneti Marelli (Maltier Marelli) and Integrated Device Technology (IDT) is a strategic investor and investment.

What does Oryx Vision's automotive LiDAR sensor market research organization think? Market research institutions are generally optimistic about the potential growth prospects of the LiDAR market. - According to Grand View Research, the global automotive LiDAR market will grow to $1.34 billion by 2024; - MarketsandMarkets has studied the broader LiDAR application market (including mapping, mapping, exploration, meteorology, urban planning and automotive), which is expected Some LiDAR markets will grow to more than $5.2 billion by 2022, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.8% between 2017 and 2022; - BIS Research estimates that the automotive LiDAR market will reach $65 million in 2016, the future In a decade, the market's compound annual growth rate exceeded 10%; - Global Market Insights studied other areas of the LiDAR application market (civil engineering, mapping, government, military, defense, geological exploration), saying that this part of the LiDAR market will From $355.5 million in 2015 to more than $1.1 billion in 2023; - Mordor Intelligence studied LiDAR applications in geography, predicting that the US market in this area will increase from $550 million in 2015 to 880 million in 2020 The US dollar, the compound annual growth rate during this period was 9.63%. - Yole predicts that the automotive LiDAR market will grow tremendously in the next five years in its recently released Automotive MEMS and Sensor Markets and Technology Trends - 2017 Edition report, and its market size will increase from US$300 million in 2017 to $44 billion in 2022.

Lidar, radar and image sensors are the pillars of the future car Mentor (a Siemens company, a leader in electronic design automation) Amin Kashi, director of ADAS & AD division, said their LiDAR sensors have made progress in terms of size and reliability. These devices do not contain any moving parts, such as mechanical LiDAR systems that are not used in Google's earliest driverless cars. LiDAR is not a single chip, and building a solution is not easy. Sensor chips need to work in harsh automotive electronics environments, and they need to be integrated into components or modules. “Reliability is very important in automotive applications,” Kashi said. Another question is whether a self-driving car needs several LiDAR sensors. “Not every vehicle will have the same amount of LiDAR installed.” He expects the highest level. For self-driving cars, 2 to 5 LiDAR sensors will be required. There is a voice on the market that does not necessarily require LiDAR for autonomous vehicles. Kashi has refuted this. He believes that autonomous vehicles need LiDAR and advanced cameras and radar sensors to work together to achieve true autonomous driving. “To this end, the market has made a lot of efforts,” he said. “Tier 1 suppliers are working hard to enter the LiDAR space and collaborate with those LiDAR start-ups. For example, Delphi has invested in three well-known LiDAR start-ups. They are: Quanergy, LeddarTech, and Innoviz. With the efforts of LiDAR start-ups, new concepts are constantly emerging. If autonomous vehicles meet current development expectations in the next few years, these LiDAR start-ups need to adopt these prototype concepts as soon as possible. The product is mass-produced. The reality is also true. I have seen many manufacturers are growing, but I think they have not made tangible breakthroughs in the past few months.” The same dream, a different starting point , lack of breakthrough Not because there is no effort. Most of these start-ups developing LiDAR sensors come from different industries. For example, Cepton Technologies was founded in Silicon Valley last year. “Our core technology is the unique laser emission and sensing array technology that delivers very high resolution,” said Wei Wei, director of business development at Cepton. “The high resolution I am talking about is both horizontal and vertical. It can reach 0.2°. For many other technologies on the market, the resolution in the vertical direction is weak, especially the mechanical rotary LiDAR sensor. Our products are 4 to 5 times higher in resolution than those products. According to Wei, Cepton has shipped LiDAR sensors to customers in Silicon Valley, Asia and Germany since February this year. Cepton's current team has 30 people and is growing. Cepton unveiled its long-range (200m), wide viewing angle LiDAR product at the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference in May this year. Cepton's patented technology features a unique micro-motion technology that eliminates the need for large rotating components, significantly reducing the size of the device, and providing greater reliability.

Cepton HR Series LiDAR Products "Our LiDAR runs more like a camera or human vision system, focusing pixels in front of the field of view, unlike other mechanical rotary LiDARs on the market, with a 360° field of view," Cepton Mark McCord, vice president of engineering, said, "We think this will better match the requirements of future cars because people don't want to place a rotating sensor on the roof. For all reasons, these LiDAR sensors will be integrated into the car. Other parts, such as front bumpers, rear bumpers, etc., are not capable of achieving 360° field of view in those locations.” Cepton uses off-the-shelf components in its solution and then manufactures it inside the company. However, for all of these LiDAR vendors, commercializing their products is the most challenging part, so Cepton is communicating with partners to help them achieve mass production. These partners can be Tier 1 suppliers or contract manufacturers. Cepton plans to strengthen the durability of its automotive LiDAR products by the next year and will work with OEMs in joint system validation in 2019. “At the same time, we are also seeking applications in other industrial markets,” Wei said, and they are still negotiating with surveying and mapping vendors. Price wars are about to start Quanergy Systems, another Silicon Valley start-up, Quanergy Systems, claims they will win in the LiDAR price war. The Quanergy solid-state LiDAR sensor chip is priced at approximately $250 and will be mass-produced at the end of September and will target applications outside the automotive market. According to the previous news from Memes Consulting, Quanergy has launched the industry's unique next-generation 3D intrusion detection and monitoring automation security solution Q-Guard based on its low-cost solid-state LiDAR sensor.

Quanergy's LiDAR sensor enables real-time, high-resolution, accurate 3D mapping of ground and space for 3D intrusion detection and monitoring. Quanergy completed $90 million in financing in August 2016. Investors include Delphi and Sensata. . Quanergy works with Sensata to achieve mass production of the product. According to Quanergy CEO Louay Eldada, its automotive-grade LiDAR chip will be available in September 2018. “LiDAR can be said to be the most important enabling sensor for many industrial automations, and it is an excellent investment direction,” Eldada said. “But it’s also worth reminding that some companies can grow up and some companies may Eldada said that Quanergy's goal is to create a solution under $100, which is critical for LiDAR's successful entry into smart homes, smart spaces, smart cities, and even fence-free security. Velodyne LiDAR Velodyne LiDAR has just been independent from its parent company last year. Its parent company was originally a high-end speaker product and a famous brand in the subwoofer field. In August 2016, Velodyne invested $150 million in China Baidu and Ford. While other LiDAR startups are eager to build strong partnerships with automakers and Tier 1 suppliers, Velodyne is already supplying LiDAR sensors to customers and has undergone actual road tests to complete proof of concept. Velodyne is adding capacity to its plant in San Jose, USA, and has a research and development center in Alameda, California. Velandne CTO Anand Gopalan said that Velodyne has more than 10 years of development experience in LiDAR technology and has achieved mass production on a certain scale. Moreover, Velodyne has just signed a supply contract for the perception system this month with the research and development department of the famous Mercedes-Benz (Mercedes Mercedes-Benz). “Generally speaking, the challenges faced by LiDAR mainly include: the farthest detection distance, that is, how far it can 'see'; the highest resolution, that is, how much 'seeing' can be seen in the field of view; high reliability, whether It can adapt to the harsh car environment; in the end, of course, the cost," Gopalan said. "We have gone through a long road test. The demand for LiDAR products in the autonomous driving technology market is very strong, and it is growing dramatically every year. We are constantly The increase in production capacity has increased from tens of thousands of units per year to hundreds of thousands to millions.” In addition to automotive electronics, Velodyne is actively expanding LiDAR's applications in HD mapping, drones, robotics and industrial equipment. “However, the autonomous vehicle market is the fastest growing area,” Gopalan said.

Velodyne's new fixed laser solid-state Velarray LiDAR In April 2017, Velodyne introduced a new fixed-laser solid-state LiDAR, Velarray. Now in the prototype stage, Gopalan revealed that its mass production is expected to be around the end of 2018 to around 2019. After mass production, the target price is about a few hundred dollars. The new Velarray LiDAR sensor uses Velodyne's patented ASIC, and its foundry is not yet available. Outstanding performance in a small package of 125mm x 50mm x 55mm, it can be flexibly embedded in the front, side and corners of the car. It provides a horizontal field of view of up to 120 degrees and a vertical field of view of 35 degrees, with a maximum detection range of up to 200m even for low-reflecting objects. “LiDAR has revitalized some semiconductor technologies,” Gopalan commented. “With photonics, optical technology has found new space for development. LiDAR is a new driver for the semiconductor industry, using standard CMOS processes, LiDAR chips can Significantly reduce costs." LeddarTech

LeddarTech solid-state LiDAR integrated in the headlights of the car, with an angle of view of 60° x 20°, a detection range of 300m (automobile), 200m (pedestrian) According to a report by Memes Consulting, LeddarTech teamed up with French Tier 1 supplier Valeo (French) Leo has introduced a low-cost solid-state LiDAR. The solid-state LiDAR sensor contains no mechanical moving parts and includes a patented ASIC receiver with 16 discrete detection segments, which is aimed at becoming the cheapest LiDAR sensor on the market.