RoboSense now offer an upgraded version of their MEMS solid-state lidar, an automotive-grade solid-state lidar designed for the mass production of autonomous vehicles. The new M1 with patented MEMS technology reportedly offers vehicle intelligence awareness to fully support Level-5 operation. The company say a breakthrough on the measurement range limit based on 905-nm lidar with a detection distance to 200 m and an upgraded optical system and signal processing technology bring final a output point cloud effect that can clearly recognise small objects such as railings and fences.
The new M1 provides an increased horizontal field of view by nearly 100% compared to the previous generation, reaching a 120° FOV so that only a few M1s are needed to cover the full 360° surrounding a vehicle. With only five M1s, there is reportedly no blind zone around the car with dual lidar sensing redundancy provided in front of the car for L5 level autonomous driving. The target production cost is USD $200 each.
RoboSense co-founder Mark Qiu calls the new lidar “a giant leap forward for driverless technology”, adding that his company are “committed to developing high-performance automotive-grade lidar at a low cost to advance the market, so that lidar can be used in fully unmanned vehicles, as well as assisted autonomous driving with superior environmental information detection that ensures driving safety”.
