List of LiDAR Players in China
When it comes to LiDAR for autonomous vehicles, the debates have been around whether LiDAR is necessary mainly due to high cost as well as debates around mechanical or solid. It is early days and we do see different approaches adopted by LiDAR players.
I put together a list of LiDAR players in China with basic company information and categorized them by measurement and scanning technologies, which is a glance over the market trend and directions of China.
LiDAR isn’t new to industries like geography, aerospace, archaeology etc. Given the various technologies that can be incorporated into a LiDAR, innovative applications are being explored in autonomous systems. Just a quick summary of what everyone is saying about the different LiDAR technologies.
Category 1: Principles of Measurement
Category 2: Scanning Methodology
A number of startups got into the field mainly between 2015 and 2017 as well as traditional LiDAR manufacturers started new development for the rising industries including autonomous vehicles (AV), robotics, drone, and AGV.
Regardless of measurement and scanning methodologies, the key focus of LiDAR players is really coming down to balancing cost with higher resolution and range. Going back to the “debates”, years down the road I don’t think it will turn out to be one-size-fits-all. It’s all about sensor fusion — by leveraging the perception information from cameras, radars, LiDARs, HD maps, v2x in a highly complementary way, a vehicle can achieve maximum safety at an optimized cost.
(Initially published on LinkedIn on September 16, 2019.)
