Bosch has decided to halt their three-year-old work on AV lidar sensor development, after considering the complexity and time-to-market for the technology. The supplier will shift the resources that had been devoted to lidar research to other technologies such as radar. Bosch still views lidar technology as important for fully autonomous vehicles, and will continue seeking to integrate lidar products into automated driving functions, but without devising their own sensors.
DVN comment
Lidar technology is still expensive, and demand is low, especially since fully automated driving will not arrive as soon as expected. Some automakers have delayed the deployment of lidar-equipped vehicles. It was the same story in the first years of radar deployment. But we can reasonably expect that costs will decrease eventually, and on-the-road lidar volumes will increase.
