The competition in the field of autonomous driving has never been just about cars themselves. The level of competition for components and peripheral products is not much worse than that of automobile manufacturers.

Lidar is one of the most sensitive components, and as the most critical technology and key component in achieving autonomous driving, the application of lidar greatly reduces the threshold for entry into unmanned vehicles. Some car manufacturers have stated that with the widespread application of LiDAR, it will directly drive the transformation of the autonomous driving industry.

Faced with the strong attack of overseas manufacturers, the domestic LiDAR industry has rapidly risen and mastered core cutting-edge technologies including solid-state LiDAR. It has gained an important voice in the most promising sunrise industry of autonomous vehicles, which means that the application research and development of autonomous driving and the industrial ecology in China will not be "controlled by others".

What is LiDAR?

Lidar, short for Light Detection and Ranging, is a radar system that detects the position, velocity, and other characteristic parameters of a target by emitting a laser beam. The principle is to use electromagnetic waves in the optical frequency band to first transmit detection signals to the target, and then compare the received same wave signal with the transmitted signal to obtain information such as the target's position (distance, orientation, and altitude), motion status, etc., to achieve detection, tracking, and recognition of the target.

Lidar, in layman's terms, is still a type of sensor. Other sensors include cameras, ultrasound, infrared, millimeter wave radar, and so on. Its biggest feature is that it can generate three-dimensional position information. It is difficult to quickly determine the position, size, external shape, and even material of an object, while obtaining data and generating accurate digital models.

Compared to sensors such as cameras, LiDAR not only generates three-dimensional position models, but also has a longer detection range, higher measurement accuracy, and a more sensitive response speed, unaffected by ambient light. Therefore, LiDAR is not only like equipping a car with a pair of eyes, but also a pair of thousand mile eyes.

In terms of types, LiDAR can be divided into mechanical LiDAR, solid-state LiDAR, and hybrid solid-state LiDAR. Mechanical LiDAR is equipped with electronic components to control the laser emission angle, while solid-state LiDAR relies on electronic components to control the laser emission angle. Compared to traditional mechanical methods, solid-state radar has a larger scanning range, faster response speed, and effective cost control. In contrast, hybrid solid-state LiDAR takes a compromise route, with no visible rotating parts on the outside and still having internal components. The production difficulty of hybrid solid-state LiDAR is the lowest. In the next few years, most of the LiDAR that can be mass-produced will belong to hybrid solid-state.

In terms of the number of internal wiring harnesses, laser radar can be divided into single wire harness and multi wire harness laser radar. Traditional single wire harness radar only generates one scanning line at a time, so it still generates planar information. Nevertheless, single beam radar has a wide range of applications due to its faster measurement speed, such as terrain mapping.

However, traditional single line beam radar is definitely not suitable for autonomous driving vehicles due to its very small scanning angle. So how to solve this problem? Adding more wiring harnesses is the simplest and most direct way. The more wiring harnesses there are, the wider the detection range and the more accurate the data becomes. Therefore, there are currently four types of laser radar products on the market, including 4-wire harness, 8-wire harness, 16 wire harness, 32 wire harness, and 64 wire harness, among others. Of course, with the passage of time, the 128 wire harness laser radar with more advanced functions has also appeared.

Velodyne: The Pioneer of Autonomous Driving Lidar

You may not be familiar with LiDAR, but you must have seen various strange looking creatures on the roof of autonomous vehicles through various channels.

For example, on the top of Uber's self driving test car, there is something similar to the "KFC Family Bucket", which is actually a LiDAR.

Industry Outlook: Lidar: The Second Battlefield of Autonomous Driving