Fueled by the rising autonomous driving technology applications, LiDAR sensor manufacturers have reported business growth and expansion. The LUMIBIRD Group announced a robust revenue growth for 1Q19 while Cepton opened a new office in the UK to accelerate EMEIA business. Paris-based laser specialist Lumibird posted a revenue of EUR 24.2 million (US$ 27.07 million) for the first quarter of 2019 with an on-year increase of 35.2%. The three strategic business lines of the company, LiDAR, Defense and Medical, are delivering strong growth in value. LiDA...

Velodyne Lidar announced an agreement with Nikon Cooperation, under which Sendai Nikon Corporation, a Nikon subsidiary, will manufacture LiDAR sensors for Velodyne with plans to start mass production in the second half of 2019. Through the partnership with Nikon to boost LiDAR sensor production, Velodyne aims to expand its business in North America, Europe and Asia, indicated Marta Hall, President and CBDO, Velodyne Lidar. The company has set a goal to produce LiDAR in millions of units to meet the rising demands in the automotive industry and other a...

Pioneer and Canon announced that the two companies have agreed to co-develop a 3D LiDAR sensor with the goal of mass production by Pioneer in 2020. 3D-LiDAR sensors use laser light to accurately measure the distance of objects as well as ascertain three-dimensional information relating to distance and the surrounding environment in real time, and are regarded as an indispensable key device for the realization of level-three and above autonomous vehicles. Pioneer has been working on the development of low cost Micro Electric Memory Systems (MEMS) as well as object rec...

Apple has held talks with LiDAR suppliers seeking for advanced LiDAR sensors for its self-driving cars, suggesting that Apple is still working on its automotive vehicle project, known as “Project Titan,” reported Reuters. According to Reuters, Apple has talked to at least four LiDAR suppliers, aiming to find LiDAR sensors with a “revolutionary design” that are “smaller, cheaper and easily mass produced” in comparison to the current technology. However, the reports said Apple has not yet found one that meets its demands. (I...

Taiwan-based research institute, ITRI, announced that it won Silver in the Transportation & Logistics category at 2019 Edison Awards with its integrated road safety solution, iRoadSafe. According to ITRI, iRoadSafe is the world’s first V2X safety system solution integrating V2V/V2I communications, roadside sensing, and CMS (Changeable Message Sign) technologies to provide safety warnings for all road users, including those without on-board unit (OBU) installation. To break through the limitation from OBU installation, iRoadSafe integrates ...

Lumotive, a LiDAR startup funded by Bill Gates, announced its development of a disruptive beam-steering technology which will significantly improve the performance, reliability and cost of LiDAR systems for the emerging self-driving car industry. With its patented system using Liquid Crystal Metasurfaces (LCM) and silicon fabrication, Lumotive introduced its beam steering LiDAR that is able to simultaneously offer large optical aperture, wide field-of-view and fast scanning. LCMs, semiconductor chips that steer laser pulses based on the light-bending principle...

Chinese LiDAR company RoboSense announced that it has provided a cold-resistant LiDAR for GACHA, the world's first autonomous driving shuttle bus for all weather conditions which was reported by LEDinside last year. GACHA is equipped with RoboSense's advanced cold-resistant 16-beam mechanical LiDAR environment perception system to operate vehicles in harsh winter and other severe weather conditions. The autonomous shuttle bus was co-designed by Sensible 4, a Finnish autonomous driving company, and MUJI, the Japanese retail brand. Sensible 4 p...

Waymo, the self-driving subsidiary of Alphabet, will start selling its LiDAR sensor, joining the LiDAR business competition with other LiDAR producers including Velodyne LiDAR and Quanergy. Simon Verghese, Head of Lidar Team at Waymo, announced in a blog post that the company is going to sell Laser Bear Honeycomb, one of the LiDAR sensors Waymo developed for its self-driving vehicles to “select partners” – those who do not compete with Waymo in self-driving taxi business. Waymo has developed three types of sensors using short, mediu...

LiDAR technology provider Quanergy teamed up with Athena Security Solutions, an intelligent security solution provider based in Hyderabad, India, to offer its LiDAR solutions for environment monitoring and risk control in India. Through the cooperation, Athena will provide the entire range of Quanergy’s solutions, including the Solid State S3-X series sensors and QORTEX for Security™ to its corporate and government clients across India. Vishnu Choudhary, CEO of Athena Security Solutions, commented, “Partnering with Quanergy wi...

Perception solution developer AEye announced that eight patents related to its perception system iDAR (Intelligent Detection and Ranging) have been confirmed. AEye’s iDAR is an integrated system combining solid-state MEMs-based agile LiDAR, fused HD camera, and software definable AI technology. With the aim to solve the challenges of robotic vision for autonomous vehicles, AEye developed iDAR, the artificial perception system that combines LiDAR, HD camera and AI intelligence to create a smart perception sensor that mimic human visual cortex fo...

Austrian sensing solution provider ams announced that it will showcase several industry-first technologies for mobile devices at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 in Barcelona during February 25 -28. ams will demonstrate state-of-the-art sensor solutions for mobile, computing and consumers including 3D sensing technology, behind screen solution color sensors and medical-level wearable devices. The industrial and automotive applications of these technologies will also be presented by ams. (image: ams) The 3D sensing technologies for mobile devices include active stereo ca...

Photonics West 2019 is the largest photonics exhibition in the world held annually in San Francisco. According to the exhibitors at the show, LEDinside learnt that the main technical challenges of VCSEL include power conversion efficiency (PCE), temperature drift, slope efficiency, and light field design. Most of the exhibitors at the show have achieved a power conversion efficiency of 40% for VCSEL products of 1-2W. Among them, Lumentum said it will continue to increase conversion efficiency to 43% in this year. LEDinside was honored to interview Somit Jos...

Velodyne LiDAR has begun partnership with Postmates, a food delivery startup, by providing its LiDAR sensors to Postmates Serve, innovative self-driving rover providing services for short-distance deliveries. (Image: Postmates) The autonomous rover is equipped with Velodyne’s market-leading VLP-16 Puck™ sensor, which is built into the top of the rover for a high-performance surround view, enabling Serve to detect people and objects as it completes local deliveries. Serve can carry 50 lbs and go 30 miles on a single charge. Also, it can interact wit...

US-based Insight LiDAR showcased its new LiDAR technology development at CES 2019. The company presented Digital Coherent LiDAR, a chip-scale, long-range LiDAR sensor based on Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) to target the emerging autonomous vehicle market. FMCW radar radiates continuous transmission power and can change its operating frequency during the measurement. The technology has stronger sensing capability in comparison with ToF and is suitable for long distance detection. Insight’s Digital Coherent LiDAR was develope...

AUTOMOTIVE WORLD, the automotive technology exhibition taking place concurrently with NEPCON Japan, highlighted the theme of CASE, addressing the next generation features of connected, autonomous, sharing and electric vehicles. Masaki Soda, the show director of AUTOMOTIVE WORLD, told LEDinside that the show gathered cutting-edge automotive technologies focusing on the components and technologies of vehicles including lighting modules, battery drivers, automotive IC, panels and others. Soda said, AUTOMOTIVE WORLD offers a plat...

Cepton Technologies, a provider of 3D LiDAR solutions for automotive, industrial and mapping applications, announced that it has release two new LiDAR products, Vista-M and Vista-X, to its product portfolio. The Vista series LiDAR solutions are built with Cepton’s patented Micro-Motion Technology (MMT™) and run on the NVIDIA DRIVE in-vehicle AI computing platform—providing high resolution and long-range imaging to enable all levels of autonomous applications. (Image: Cepton) The Vista-M LiDAR packs a 120-degree fiel...

LiDAR startup AEye announced that it has extended strategic partnership with automotive lighting supplier HELLA and started collaboration with LG Electronics in developing and manufacturing sensing and perception solutions for autonomous driving. AEye’s iDAR artificial perception system leads the industry in range and scan rate performance for automotive-grade LiDAR. iDAR is a new form of intelligent data collection that fuses 1550 nanometer (nm), solid-state agile LiDAR with a low-light HD camera and embedded AI to intelligently capture data at the...

According to the latest report, titled “LEDinside 2019 Infrared Sensing Application Market Report- Mobile Sensing, LiDAR and Optical Sensing,” various IR products have kept developing, bringing about unlimited business opportunities. LEDinside focuses on the applications as follows, including security surveillance, biometric recognition on mobile device (iris, 2D facial, under display fingerprint recognition- optical and ultrasonic, 3D facial recognition- structured light, ToF, stereo vision), digital medical care (pulse, oximetry, glucose sensing), spec...

Autonomous driving is one of the featured technologies at CES 2019. Automobile manufacturers, LiDAR developers as well as sensing components providers have all prepared to join the high profile event with their cutting-edge technologies. LEDinside has selected some noticeable exhibitors who are showcasing the next generation technology for autonomous driving applications. Velodyne Lidar Velodyne continues to present new products for CES 2019. Last week the company released that it will demonstrate Velodyne Alpha Puck™ and Velodyne Velarray™, sensors ma...

Osram Opto Semiconductors announced its partnership with GaN Systems in the development of laser driver for LiDAR applications. Osram has continuously expanded its laser portfolio for LiDAR. Through the collaboration with GaN Systems, the company aims to solve the issues of LiDAR including its inability to transmit lasers at short pulses while maintaining high peak power. The issue is critical to ensure that the LiDAR is eye safe with a long range and high resolution. To address this need, Osram worked with GaN Systems to develop a laser driver with a one ...

Velodyne Lidar announced that it will introduce and demonstrate its cutting-edge LiDAR sensor technology at CES 2019 in the Las Vegas next week. The company will showcase a wide array of products, including new products to address directional and short-range sensing with trailblazing technology and performance. Moreover, it is going to announce its collaborations with strategic partners and present some new products for the first time. With its LiDAR technologies, Velodyne will demonstrate how LiDAR sensors help to advance vehicle autonomy and road safety. It is pr...

XenomatiX, a Belgian based solid-state LiDAR technology provider, announced its partnership with functional glass supplier AGC to build integrated LiDAR sensors for ADAS and autonomous driving. The two companies developed a windshield-mounted LiDAR system that meets automotive requirements while assuring reliable detection. XenomatiX’ high performance LiDAR enables seamless integration behind AGC’s Wideye windshields. (Image: XenomatiX) “Integrating XenoLidar behind front and rear windows is an important step towards higher le...

Israel-based LiDAR solution provider Innoviz Technologies announced the achievements of its expansion into four new countries and advance of manufacturing. With the significant movements, the company aims to provide LiDAR solutions available and affordable at a massive scale for the prospering market. Innoviz has expanded globally with the opening of offices in four new countries including the U.S., Germany, China and Japan, with additional expansions planned in 2019. These regions were selected based on their proximity to areas of high market demand and/or existing cus...

Velodyne Lidar announced its collaboration with Nikon as the optical technology company invests US$ 25 million in Velodyne. The two companies have begun discussions for a multifaceted business alliance. The purpose of the strategic partnership is to combine Nikon’s optical and precision technologies with Velodyne’s sensor technology. According to Velodyne, the relationship aims to advance the timeline for manufacturing and mass production of LiDAR for the autonomous and advanced safety global market. The parties have begun investigating a wide-ranging business...

Sensor solutions provider ams announced that it will exhibit new sensing technologies for the mobile devices, computing, consumer electronics and automotive sectors at CES 2019. With its theme, ‘Sensing is Life,’ ams is going to introduce sensor solutions including medical-grade wearable devices that monitor blood pressure; 3D technology for smart phones, computing, automotive and robotics; behind OLED solutions for bezel-less phones; color sensors that enhance pictures to professional levels; earbud technology for a relaxing ANC experience (digital and analog) ...

The U.S.-based LiDAR startup, AEye, announced the second close of its Series B financing, bringing the company’s total funding to over US$60 million. AEye Series B included global automotive OEM, Tier 1 and Tier 2 strategic investors Hella Ventures, SUBARU-SBI Innovation Fund, LG Electronics, and SK Hynix. AEye previously announced that the round was led by Taiwania Capital and other investors. Series B will be used to scale AEye’s operations to meet global demand for its artificial perception systems for both ADAS and Mobilit...

LiDAR startup Luminar announced that it has collaborated with Autonomous Intelligent Driving (AID), the subsidiary of Audi. Through the partnership, Luminar is providing its forward-facing and long-range LiDAR technology to accelerate plans towards AID’s first fully autonomous deployments in 2021. AID is a startup founded by Audi with the purpose to provide autonomous driving technologies for the Volkswagen Group. Since the company launched in March last year, AID tapped Luminar as its first partner for realizing its vision to deploy true and safe au...

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) has been one of the technology focuses in the past two years as it is a key technology for automotive vehicles and many other applications. According to “2018 Infrared Sensing Application Market Report” by LEDinside, the market value of LiDAR laser is expected to reach US$ 154 million in 2020. Worldwide LiDAR sensor producers and semiconductor firms have been pushing LiDAR development and extending applications through collaboration with other technology partners. Apart from self-driving technology, LiDAR ...

Apple has applied a patent related to optoelectronics devices for improving LiDAR sensors and applications, reported Patently Apple. The report said that Apple noted the demands for applications using 3D sensing and imaging systems and proposed enhanced technologies to integrate LiDAR and VCSEL for advanced 3D image technology. The new patent introduce a method to combine different types of light source and laser array such as diffractive optical elements or VCSEL to develop improved 3D image devices for various applications. (Image: Apple) Patently Ap...

LiDAR startup Luminar and Volvo Cars revealed their development in LiDAR perception for safe autonomous driving technology. Volvo has announced to invest in Luminar in June and became the first of its partners to develop advanced perception capabilities for vehicles. Volvo Cars has introduced its vision for full autonomy with its 360c concept and worked closely with Luminar. At the AutoMobility show in Los Angeles, the two companies jointly demonstrated long-range perception capabilities on a live drive along Los Angeles highways and streets to show Volvo Cars lo...