Real-time 3D lidar is poised to be the third leg of the trifecta of sensor technologies enabling both advanced driver-assistance (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles, writes Ed Brown in a Photonics & Imaging Technology story.

Brown spoke with Velodyne Lidar CTO Anand Gopalan about the current state of 3D automotive lidar and where the technology is headed.

The article discusses lidar, camera and radar sensing technologies and notes:

“’Lidar is a really interesting technology because it sits in between the two other sensor modalities,’ said Gopalan. Since it’s a light-based technology, it has much higher resolution than radar and can see colors, reflectivity, and lane markings. It can sense context similar to a camera, but since it brings its own light to the party, it’s not at all sensitive to ambient light conditions — it basically works the same whether it’s dawn or dusk or night or daytime.”

Looking deeper at lidar technology, the article states:

“The resolution of modern lidar systems is good enough to distinguish between various objects, for example, a pedestrian vs. a bicycle. Besides distance, lidar can also probe the reflectivity of an object. Stop signs are high — the word “stop” is in white whereas the background is in red. Thus, the system cannot just detect the presence of a sign, but by virtue of the reflectivity, to determine its nature as well. Also, lane markings are more reflective than road surfaces, and so on.”

Lidar is becoming increasingly sophisticated and will be a major partner in automotive sensing along with cameras and radar, writes Brown.

To review the entire Photonics & Imaging Technology story, please visit: Automotive Lidar Trends

For Velodyne Lidar products click HERE.