For flood imaging LiDAR, the light emitted each time is scattered throughout the field of view, which means that only a small part of the laser will be projected to some specific point. In addition, each pixel in the photodetector array must be very small, limiting the amount of reflected light that the laser pointer can capture.
"Solid-state LiDAR solutions are challenging," Pacala said. He proposed that traditional rotary LiDAR technology has unique advantages and will continue to maintain a certain market position in the next decade, especially in the high-end market.
According to Pacala's prediction, most LiDAR systems will gradually switch to solid-state solutions in the next decade, but there will still be some rotating mechanical laser pointers sensors with real high performance and high value.
Pacala makes an interesting analogy with the hard drive market. About 15 years ago, solid-state storage devices became more and more popular, especially in mobile devices. However, today there are still a large number of traditional hard disk drives with rotating disks being sold. Because this design provides the perfect combination of high capacity and low cost.
Similarly, Pacala expects that most low-end laser pointer radar devices in the future will use solid-state designs, just as most mobile devices today use solid-state storage. But for the most demanding applications (including self-driving cars), he expects that high-end rotary LiDAR will also occupy an important market position, providing long distances, high resolution, and a wider field of view.
Three LiDAR models are currently available: a low-end 16-line LiDAR sensor OS-1 for $ 3,500, a 64-line OS-1 version for $ 12,000, and a 64-line longer range The sensor OS-2 costs $ 24,000.
How much does Velodyne sell for? Velodyne's 16-line LiDAR "sensing ice hockey" sells for $ 4,000, which is roughly equivalent to Ouster's $ 3,500 16-line model.
Just last December, Forbes reported that the price of the old 64-line model of Velodyne was still as high as 75,000 US dollars, only a slight decrease from the 85,000 US dollars 10 years ago.
When Velodyne President Marta Hall was asked about the price comparison between Velodyne's HDL-64E and 64-line OS-1, she replied: "Velodyne's HDL-64E was developed a decade ago. Since then, Velodyne has done Many improvements have been made. Please compare Ouster's LiDAR products with Velodyne's latest 128-line LiDAR sensor VLS-128 to be reasonable. Volume pricing for VLS-128 will be $ 12,000 or less. "
Indeed, VLS-128 has more amazing specifications than Ouster's OS-1. Velodyne's high-end LiDAR unit has a larger detection range and is more attractive than Ouster's $ 24,000 OS-2. What would be the cost of owning a VLS-128? Hall said it is "not yet priced for sale." Of course, she also did not say whether high-volume customers can now get $ 12,000 or less.
After all, the unit price of a LiDAR unit is not important. The long-term goal of all these LiDAR vendors is to sell these laser pointers for thousands or even millions of units for consumer-grade vehicles. Automakers who buy LiDAR in bulk will definitely get a big discount from a single price.