Research and Development of Automotive LiDAR Industry

1. Automotive lidar, the eye of L3 autonomous driving

Automotive LiDAR has the characteristics of long distance measurement, excellent angular resolution, and little influence by ambient light, and can directly obtain the distance and orientation information of objects without the need for deep learning algorithms.

Compared with other sensors, it can significantly improve the reliability of the automatic driving system, so it is considered as a necessary sensor for L3 and above automatic driving.

The market size of automotive LiDAR in the field of advanced assisted driving will maintain rapid growth in the next five years. According to Sullivan's forecast, the automotive lidar market is expected to reach US$4.61 billion in 2025, with a compound growth rate of 83.7% from 2019 to 2025.

2. The structure of automotive LiDAR is split:

Transmit/receive matching, scanning for multi-technology solutions. The automotive lidar system can be divided into four parts: laser emission, scanning system, laser reception and information processing.

1) Laser emission: wavelength affects laser power, and laser is the core;

2) Scanning system: MEMS are gradually becoming the main force, and the pure solid-state solution of Flash/OPA is worth looking forward to;

3) Laser reception: Photodetectors are the key, currently there are APD, SPAD and SiPM, etc.;

4) Information processing: point cloud segmentation algorithm, target tracking and recognition algorithm and SLAM.

Looking at the development trend of automotive LiDAR technology from the signal-to-noise ratio. The signal-to-noise ratio is one of the most important parameters to measure the performance of lidar. To improve the signal-to-noise ratio of lidar, the simplest and most effective method is:

1) Improve the optical power of the received signal: 1550nm wavelength + fiber laser + InGaAs receiver.

2) Improve the quantum efficiency of detectors: SiPM and SPAD are emerging as lidar detectors.

3) Adopt coherent detection method: The high sensitivity of FMCW is reflected in its single-photon detection and anti-interference ability.

Sunny Automotive is the world's leading provider of LiDAR optical solutions, mastering LiDAR market trends and the most advanced product technology. With mass production experience, Sunny Automotive can provide optical solutions for different LiDAR (Mechanical/MEMS/3D Flash/OPA) and core optical components (optical window/transmitting and receiving lens/scanning part - polygon). Smart Eye makes driving safer and more comfortable.

Ningbo Sunny Automotive Optech Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of Sunny Optical Technology (Group) Co., Ltd., dedicated to providing optoelectronic solutions for smart cars and autonomous driving. We have 30 years of optical experience and 19 years of automotive lens experience, and our market share has reached the world's top 1 for 9 consecutive years since 2012. Welcome to consult.