The annual market for lidar systems is set to grow from around USD $726m in 2017 to $6bn in 2023, an annual growth rate of 43%. A new report, Lidars for Automotive and Industrial Applications 2018, says Lidar is a super-hot technology, required by ADAS and robotic cars. That’s creating a demand, but there are only a few products now available,with the right specifications and robustness to be implemented in cars. The requested specifications are a moving target and camera module, radar system and car manufacturers are trying to avoid using today’s complex and immature systems.
And because lidar is closely connected with ADAS, the growth is set to continue until 2032 with $28bn in the automotive segment alone. Robotics and drones are also a key area for lidar deployment. “In the past two years, more than $800m has been invested in lidar companies,” Yole analyst Alexis Debray says.
| Automotive and industrial lidar market forecast 2017 to 2023. Source: Yole Developpement. |
There is a diverse set of technology approaches to lidar. Most current products use mechanical scanning of a high intensity laser at a wavelength of 830nm to 940nm. The mechanical scanners are getting replaced by MEMS scanners. The next step is to go solid-state with an optical phased-array, as proposed by Quanergy. Some companies are investigating the 1550nm wavelength, at which a higher power laser can be used, because the laser maximum’s permissible exposure is roughly 100 times higher. These players include Blackmore, Neptec, Aeye, and Luminar.
