Continental AG, Velodyne LIDAR, Inc., Valeo SA, Luminar Technologies, Inc., and TriLumina Corporation – PROMINENT MARKET PARTICIPANTS IN AUTOMOTIVE LIDAR MARKET
A LiDAR i.e. Light Detection and Ranging is a remote sensing technology that makes use of light to measure ranges. This is done by measuring scattered light. LiDAR, unlike radar, makes use of shorter wavelength whereas radar makes use of radio waves for measuring targets. The integration of LIDAR in the automotive industry assures to make the cars more intelligent. LIDAR technology has proved its reliability and accuracy throughout several thousands of implementations such as, consumer electronics, automotive applications. To perform at its fullest, the technology is built using unique and advanced components.
The most prominent players in automotive LiDAR market are Continental AG, Denso Corporation, Innoviz Technologies, Ltd., Luminar Technologies, Inc., Omron Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Trilumina Corporation, Valeo SA, Velodyne LiDAR, Inc., and Xenomatix N.V. among others for a considerable share of the market owing to their product offerings to the market.
Market leaders are involved in taking up various automotive LiDAR market initiative such as expanding footprint across the world and meet the growing demand of its customers, focusing towards product enhancements by implementing advance technologies, and signing partnership, contracts, joint ventures, funding, and inaugurating new offices across the world to maintain brand name globally. For instance, recently, Velodyne LiDAR Joined Forces with Veoneer Inc. on Automotive Production Contract. In this agreement, Velodyne is expected to provide core LiDAR technology to Veoneer Inc. through which Veoneer, Inc. further strengthens its development in providing trusted, innovative solutions for the auto industry. Further, in 2019, XenomatiX launched XenoWare 4.0, a new software that improves remarkably how LiDAR sensors detect and interpret point clouds data. XenoWare processes 3D point clouds data and supports multiple applications such as road mapping, suspension control, free space detection, data recording, etc. Furthermore, in 2018, OMRON 3D-LiDAR was adopted for NVIDIA’s autonomous driving vehicle development platform “NVIDIA DRIVE™”. This activity enables vehicles and system manufacturers (engaged in) developing an autonomous driving vehicles using “NVIDIA DRIVE” to develop applications for autonomous driving vehicles combining our 3D-LiDAR and “NVIDIA DriveWorks”. Subsequently, introduction of such initiation are expected to provide this market with lucrative growth opportunities.
Many well-known as well as small local companies are present in the market to provide automotive LiDAR solutions to their customers. The larger firms are adopting the strategy of partnership, contractual alliances for the deployment of automotive LiDAR solutions to enhance their customer portfolio and expand footprint in different geographies. Moreover, some of the automotive LiDAR market players also focus majorly on new product innovations and developments by adopting advance technologies and compete with the competitors. Few on the important market initiatives from the industry are mentioned below:
| Year | News | Country |
| 2018 | Innoviz Established Presence in Four New Regions and enhanced manufacturing abilities, aligning with the company’s mission to provide LiDAR solutions that are available and affordable at a massive scale. Innoviz has expanded globally with the opening of offices in four new countries including the U.S., Germany, China and Japan. | MEA |
| 2018 | XenomatiX launched XenoLiDAR, a true-solid-state LiDAR for long range object detection and tracking. XenoLiDAR delivers high resolution and superior density point clouds, allowing vehicles to digitize and understand the road and vehicle surroundings in real-time and in all weather and light conditions. | Europe |
| 2018 | OMRON developed 3D-LiDAR for front long range with a detection distance of 150 m or more. This increased the ability to recognize not only distant obstacles (four-wheeled vehicles, two-wheeled vehicles, pedestrians, etc.) that are required for autonomous traveling at high speed but also low obstacles (curbs, falling objects, etc.) on the road surface and road surface shapes (inclination, irregularities Etc.) | APAC |
| 2017 | TriLumina Collaborated with Analog Devices for a new integrated, solid-state illuminator module for automotive FLASH LiDAR systems. The integration of TriLumina’s innovative VCSEL array laser emitters with ADI’s patent pending high-speed pulse laser driver enables a best-in-class illuminator achieving high optical power output in a single, small surface mount IC package. This combination marks a milestone towards cost effective, high performance LiDAR systems. TriLumina’s collaboration with ADI signals its position as an integral player in next generation automotive LiDAR systems. | APAC |
| 2016 | Continental acquired the Hi-Res 3D Flash LIDAR business of Advanced Scientific Concepts Inc (ASC). This acquisition supports the company to enhance its Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) product portfolio with a future-orientated solution to add to the group of surrounding sensors needed to achieve highly and fully automated driving. | Europe |
Sources: Company Website, Press Releases, Newsletters, and The Insight Partner Analysis
