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posted by Fnord666 on Friday February 14 2020, @10:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the illuminating-information dept.

The 2020 Consumer Electronics Show was absolutely crawling with companies hawking lidar. Short for light radar (yes, really), this powerful type of sensor generates a three-dimensional pointcloud of its surroundings. Experts and industry insiders not named Elon Musk see it as a key technology for self-driving cars. There are dozens of companies developing lidar technology, and each insists that its sensor is a cut above the rest.

But while every lidar is above-average in the halls of CES, things are starting to look different in the real world. At least one segment of the market—custom robots for warehouses, mines, and other industrial sites—is starting to buy lidar sensors in significant volume. Another segment—low-end lidars used in car driver-assistance systems—is poised to become a big market in the next couple of years.

For this piece I asked both lidar company officials and independent experts to help me understand the state of the lidar market. They told me that Velodyne—the company that invented modern three-dimensional lidar more than a decade ago—continues to dominate the industry.

But Velodyne is facing growing competition from newer firms. One company in particular—Ouster—has begun shipping aggressively priced alternatives to Velodyne's flagship products. While these products might not quite match Velodyne's performance, they're good enough and cheap enough to pose a serious threat to Velodyne's dominance.

The big battles in the lidar market are still in the future. A lot of lidar sales so far have come outside of the automotive industry, but experts expect carmakers to be the biggest customers for lidar. In the next few years, we're going to see a number of carmakers make their first bulk lidar purchases—buying thousands of low-cost lidar sensors to improve their advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). A number of lidar companies are positioning themselves to win these deals, and some are pairing up with traditional "tier 1" automotive suppliers to improve their odds.

The industry's biggest prize may be supplying more powerful lidar sensors for use in fully self-driving vehicles. Many companies are angling to serve this market, but those sales are still quite a way off because fully self-driving technology isn't yet ready for prime time.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Friday February 14 2020, @11:36PM (1 child)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 14 2020, @11:36PM (#958342) Journal

    Velodyne's top-of-the-line lidar units traditionally cost $75,000 or more.
    ...
    The result: in 2018 Ouster was able to offer its first lidar sensor, a 64-laser unit called the OS-1, for just $12,000. Since then, Ouster has expanded its product line. The company's products now range from a low-end 16-laser unit for $3,500 to a long-range unit with 128 lasers for $24,000.

    Ahem, that's not what I call cheap, whe considering a Toyota Corolla is in the $20,000 range. But then:

    Velodyne also faces competition from some Chinese companies that Velodyne dismisses as copycat vendors. Like Ouster, these companies offer Velodyne-like sensors at low prices. But Velodyne says that unlike Ouster, these companies simply copied Velodyne's design. Indeed, Velodyne sued two of those vendors—RoboSense and Hesai—for patent infringement last August.

    Hmmm... really? That could drive the prices down to amateur entry level.
    Turns out [aliexpress.com] that single line 360 lidars, with 40m range, open source SDKes are in the $90 price point range. The "industrial applications" - still single laser line - are in the $200-$1500 price range.
    Well, good enough for very simple applications or if you want to tune your software and don't care longer acquisition times.

    Ah, there's something interesting [robosense.ai] - at $1900, 120o cone FoV, 125 scanning lines, 120m sensing depth, 15FPS. Not exactly for backyard amateurs, more like semi-pro level in both budget and possible applications.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 15 2020, @02:38AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 15 2020, @02:38AM (#958394)

    > Ahem, that's not what I call cheap, whe considering a Toyota Corolla is in the $20,000 range.

    As long as prices are like this, Lidar will be a luxury car option only. Imagine that you drive under a low entryway to a drive-thru and knock it off your roof (self-driving isn't likely to navigate in these specialized places). The dealer replacement cost will be ridiculous. You won't want to report the accident to your insurance company because your rates will triple(or more?). And it will be a dealer-only part--customized by the vehicle manufacturer so that generic/aftermarket replacements won't work.