Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups in the automotive industry. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. So, let’s take a look at promising LiDAR solutions.
Heat Map: 5 Top LiDAR Startups
For our 5 picks of LiDAR startups, we used a data-driven startup scouting approach to identify the most relevant solutions globally. The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 interesting examples out of 200 highly relevant solutions in the automotive industry. Depending on your specific needs, your top 5 picks might look entirely different.
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Lumotive
One of the emerging LiDAR technologies is solid-state LiDAR, a term for several non-spinning lidar designs. Compares to traditional – electromechanical – LiDARs, solid-state LiDAR has no moving parts thus they are more compact and more resilient to vibrations.
Lumotive, a US-based startup, develops solid-state LiDAR sensors based on liquid crystal metasurface technology.
Analog Photonics
Optical Phased Array LiDARs are a subsection of solid-state LiDARs, where an array of antennas create a beam of waves.
US startup Analog Photonics develops an on-chip optical phased array solution along with a patented silicon photonics technology for LiDAR sensors.
SOS Lab
Another approach of solid-state LiDARs is called MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system), which use mirrors to steer a laser beam.
Smart Optical Sensors Lab, a South Korean startup, delivers hybrid (Mechanical motor x MEMS) scanning LiDARs for self-driving cars.
Trilumina
Apart from laser scanning, a LiDAR system also can operate using a single light source which illuminates the given object in a single pulse and detects the returned light with a 2D array of sensors.
Trilumina, a US-based startup, develops and manufactures VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser) technology for flash LiDARs.
Baraja
Mechanical LiDAR uses a bulky, physically rotating laser light source and receiver assembly that has 360-degree coverage with multiple mechanical components.
Australian startup Baraja came up with a new type of LiDAR technology, called the Spectrum-Scan LiDAR. It’s a modular, Artificial Intelligence-driven sensor suite for various autonomous vehicle needs. The technology contains a wavelength-tunable laser connected to prism-like “sensor-heads” which allow light to deflect in different directions without rotating lasers or moving mirrors.
What About The Other 195 Solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence for your Proof of Concept (PoC), partnership, or investment targets. The 5 LiDAR startups showcased above are promising examples out of 200 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria and collaboration strategy, get in touch.
