LiDARs Getting on Passenger Vehicles in China

LiDAR is finally having its moment. On the supply side, LiDARs have reached automotive-grade, mass production capability, and an acceptable cost range. On the demand side, auto companies strive to differentiate their EV models and higher level of automated driving is one direction.

L3 remains a regulatory obstacle but isn’t an excuse. The OEMs in China found a way around either by offering certain features with clear defined “ODDs” (Operational Design Domain), or by making L3 features available via OTA upgrade in the future with necessary hardware embedded now, or both.

In this article, we will review the pairs of OEM and LiDAR provider.

Innovusion + NIO

Innovusion was founded in 2016 by two former Baidu employees. Both were involved in sensor projects at the autonomous driving team with academic and professional experiences in related areas like optical sensors, electronics, laser technology, etc.

The company did some marketing in 2019 with the launch of its long-range high-resolution LiDAR System “Cheetah”, when we first learned its innovative application of rotating polygon optical architecture and Galvo scanners. Now, Innovusion has Jaguar 65 and Jaguar 100 available with corresponding software OmniSense as an option, according to the website. The Jaguar series’ use cases seem like are on the roadside mostly.

Earlier in January, NIO announced Innovusion as its LiDAR supplier for model ET7 that will start delivery in Q1 of 2022. It wasn’t a surprise as NIO Capital has invested in the company. Falcon, the LiDAR for ET7, has no spec available at this point. According to NIO’s description, it will have maximum detection range of 500 meters, ultra wide horizontal FOV of 120° and resolution of 300 channels in equivalent.

It doesn’t seem like Falcon is in SOP stage. But with the recent funding and Joyson Eletronics’ support in testing and production, Innovusion has what it takes to meet the delivery.

Livox + Xpeng

Livox came out of an internal incubation program of DJI, the world’s largest drone manufacturer based in China. A group of engineers started research and development on LiDAR since 2016 with guidance, resources and financial support from DJI. Now it has become an independent subsidiary.

Livox’s first product series Mid-40/Mid-100 was released in February 2019. The series is still available today and more suited in AGV/AMR and smart road applications.

Livox made its debut at the CES 2020 in January by launching 2 new LiDAR products, Horizon and Tele-15. It was claimed that the two were built for L3 and L4 autonomous driving with a price point that is a fraction of the conventional LiDAR sensors while achieving better performance and reliability.

Later in October, the company launched Mid-70 and Avia. According to official information, the Mid-70 was specifically designed for low-speed autonomous driving with an accurate short-range detection and a zero blind spot performance. The Avia offers improved long-range detection and is ideal for topographic surveying and mapping, power line inspection, forestry and security, etc.

The company adopts a unique optoelectronic design by rotating two prisms for a non-repetitive flower-like scanning pattern. As a result, the environment scanned increases with longer time as the sensors’ laser reaches new spaces hence minimized blind spots.

It is clear that Livox has been committed to bring reliable, compact, relatively low cost, ready-to-use LiDAR to the market place since day one. When it releases a new product, it is pretty much available for purchase in small quantities and ready for mass production.

Xpeng announced Livox as its partner in January this year. The Horiz/HAP, customized version of Horizon for Xpeng, will be meeting automotive requirements with enhanced performance, such as a detection range of 150 meters at 10% reflectivity and a wider horizontal FOV of 120°. It also comes with a new “ultra FPS” (Frames Per Second) technology to get almost doubled point cloud density without extra transmitters.

Huawei + BAIC

Huawei first revealed the plan to develop sensors in-house as part of its automotive strategy in 2019. In December 2020, a 96-beam medium to long-range LiDAR was first launched.

According to the company official, it started R&D on LiDAR for vehicles since 2016. After half year’s market research, it clarified the direction as high performance, automotive grade, and mass production availability. It summarized the driving scenarios in which the other sensors couldn’t provide enough safety, such as small obstacles at long distance, cut-in at short distance, tunnel, left turn at cross road. All of these got translated to a spec that the LiDAR should reach.

The 96-beam LiDAR was claimed to have a detection range of 150 meters at 10% remission and 120° × 25° FOV. Laser beams are distributed evenly on the horizontal and vertical dimensions for an angular resolution of 0.25° × 0.26°.

Huawei initiated solutions for highway cruise (one in front) and home-office commute (three mounted for a 300° coverage in urban roads), while designed practical features for passenger vehicles (eg. smart cleaning and heating). The first production line has been built with yearly capacity of 100,000 units.

The new EV model Alpha S from Arcfox, a premium brand under BAIC — BJEV, will be the first to carry the Huawei Intelligent Automotive Solution including LiDARs.

Robosense + Lucid Motor

Robosense was founded in 2014, one of the earliest on the China market to develop and manufacture multi-beam mechanical LiDARs when Velodyne was the one and only provider, together with for example Hesai and Leishen.

The company’s development process can be summarized in two product lines:

Multi-beam mechanical LiDARs had been widely adopted in autonomous driving tests like robotaxi, robotruck, and robodelivery in a retrofitted manner. When Velodyne’s 16-beam LiDAR had a shortage of supply due to high demand in 2016, Robosense made a tough decision aiming at the empty space that could be just temporary while some of the peers were working on differentiated product offering. Robosense achieved mass production of RS-LiDAR-16 and then RS-LiDAR-32 in 2017. It also developed corresponding software solutions, which was a big advantage over Velodyne’s hardware only offering to especially AV startups in early stage.

MEMS-based semi-solid state LiDAR had also been researched and developed almost at the same time as Robosense believed MEMS would be the upcoming mature technology for mass produced vehicles. RS-LiDAR-M1 made its debut in the CES 2020 and later in the year won orders from Lucid Motors and Inceptio. Robosense recently showcased its production line for the automotive grade M1.

In 6 years, Robosense well positioned its products and offerings in a competitive landscape by surviving, striving to differentiate and then getting ahead.

Ibeo + Great Wall Motors

WEY is a luxury SUV brand under the traditional auto OEM Great Wall Motors. A new model “Moca” will be launched with lots of high-tech features. The basic version was reported to be offering Highway Assist and later Navigation on Highway via OTA upgrade. An advanced version will be equipped with 3 ibeoNEXT LiDARs, a long-range and two medium-range ones, to support L3 autonomous driving. ibeoNEXT is likely the world’s first solid state LiDAR for automotive application using a pure semiconductor solution.

Luminar + SAIC

R is SAIC’s new premium EV brand. An automated driving system will be the key feature on an upcoming model ES33 in 2022, which is a coupe-like electric crossover. SAIC partners with Luminar on LiDAR solutions for ES33 and further details are to be expected.