Lidar is a system that combines green laser pointer, global positioning system (GPS) and inertial navigation system (INS) to acquire data and generate accurate DEM.
It is widely believed in the industry that laser radar is the necessary basis for automatic driving. Traditional radar cannot recognize the details of objects, and the recognition efficiency of the camera is significantly reduced under dark or backlight conditions. But the fast-running green laser pointer radar market may have "run the wrong way."
Mistaken cognitive direction: large size, high price is the "standard" of lidar
As early as 2004, the US Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) hosted an unmanned challenge across the Mojave Desert, which was originally designed to stimulate the development of autonomous driving technologies for military and commercial applications.
In the game, Velodyne's founder David Hall was keenly aware of the advantages of Lidar devices in autonomous driving technology and began to study. Soon, Velodyne developed the first laser radar, which is 30 inches in diameter and weighs nearly 100 pounds.
In the long run, the large size and high price have become the "standard" for laser radar. However, a number of research and development institutions have begun to address this "pain point." In March 2018, Cepton's fourth-generation Vista, the lowest power and smallest sensor in the market, is priced at less than $1,000.
Mistaken application scenario: only unmanned laser radar can "extend the gap"
Lidar has taken the lead in unmanned driving, and it is widely believed that only the driverless can make the lidar "extremely".
Lidar is a radar system that emits a laser beam to detect the position and velocity of a target, and can be used in many fields. Used in the field of robots, Lidar solves the problem of robot walking, knows how to plan the path, and the function of obstacle avoidance. In the field of car driving, in addition to the “eye” of the car as the “eye” of the car, the roadblock can be recognized. It can also be applied to automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems.
Identified the accessory relationship: Lidar can replace other redundancy
Lidar, radar and camera will never be replaced and replaced.
Some manufacturers believe that the green laser pointer radar is too redundant, Tesla CEO Musk believes that it can rely on the camera and radar to complete most of the work required for the automatic driving system.
In fact, Lidar sensors offer redundancy and overlap, which is what you need to build a driverless car, allowing the vehicle to cope even in the most challenging environments, from a safety perspective. Say it must exist.
Lidar has been developed so far, and the market is already a red sea. However, there are more opportunities and challenges in its development. For example, materials, environment, driving speed and cost are still the challenges that Lidar needs to overcome. At the same time, Lidar also faces many opportunities, for example, it is in smart machines. There will be great potential in the ecosystem, and intelligent lidars can “safely escort” for unmanned driving.