- The largest Lidar manufacturer in the world has just presented its next generation technology
- The system can detect color, speed and reflectivity.
- The technology is expected to hit the market later this year.
The world’s largest Lidar sensor manufacturer just announced a next-generation version of its technology that will give autonomous vehicles a huge reliability boost.
Hesai Group announced this week that its new color-capable Lidar, called ‘6D ETX full-color platform’, is capable of detecting an object’s X, Y and Z coordinates, as well as its reflectivity, speed and color, according to the South China Morning Post.
Compared to the black and white images currently returned by most systems on the market, Hesai Group’s ability to detect color, as well as any reflectivity and speed, is expected to greatly improve the speed at which autonomous driving systems can determine and classify objects, such as traffic signs, traffic lights and emergency services vehicles.
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Hesai CEO David Li Yifan says the first versions of the technology will hit the market later this year, saying they will be the first of their kind. However, the CEO did not reveal which brands would receive the Lidar system first.
“This is not some kind of market hype,” he said at a news conference Friday. “It’s a fundamental innovation, something no one I know has done before,” the South China Morning Post reported.
Deutsche Bank conducted its own research work on the technology, concluding that it eliminates the need for “complex seams or inferences,” meaning the autonomous driving system no longer needs to “guess” when identifying color-critical objects such as traffic lights, lane lines or construction signs.
He reported that Hesai’s innovation would “significantly improve” the spatial intelligence of global artificial intelligence models, which will likely highlight the already profitable company that counts the top 10 Chinese automakers among its clients.
Analysis: Hands-off autonomy is coming
Most major automotive players in China are racing to develop a Level 3 autonomous driving system, which will allow drivers to perform “secondary tasks” safely and legally while behind the wheel.
Currently, Level 3 pilot operations have begun on designated urban roads in Chongqing, southwest China, and on expressways in Beijing, with more approvals expected to follow.
Tesla is also actively testing and rolling out its supervised full self-driving system in China, but famously eschews Lidar and other sensors in favor of its camera-only approach, which it claims will dramatically reduce the overall cost.
But many Tesla owners are angry that the company is promising self-driving capability in older vehicles while continuing to roll out higher levels of processing power in new products.
China’s push toward a more advanced Lidar system could help improve accuracy, as well as the speed at which authorities can approve a reliable autonomous driving system.
What’s more, China is likely to continue supporting cutting-edge technology from its domestic market, rather than allowing a company like Tesla to become the first to market with a truly “hands-off” autonomous driving system.
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