<article><p class="lead">The adoption of light detection and ranging (lidar) devices is growing as manufacturers incorporate gallium-based sensor technology into products including cars, appliances and mobile phones.</p><p>Lidar sensors emit light to detect objects and measure distances. The cost of the sensors, which use indium gallium arsenide, or increasingly, gallium nitride (GaN), has fallen in recent years, encouraging more manufacturers to make use of the technology. The market for GaN power devices including lidar doubled in 2020, according to research firm Yole.</p><p>The largest application for lidar is in topography. The Anguilla department of lands and surveys has launched a new land information system built on laser scanning firm Trimble's platform to replace its paper-based system, the company said. And Dutch geo-intelligence company Fugro has signed a contract to install a lidar buoy in July at a wind farm off the coast of Vietnam for wind resource mapping. Topographic mapping accounted for $1bn of the $1.6bn lidar market last year, according to Yole.</p><p>But the firm expects automotive applications to lead lidar demand in the coming years, rising to $1.7bn by 2025 from $100mn in 2020. The automotive industry is in the process of rolling out lidar technology for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving functionality. The sensors collect information about a vehicle's surroundings to provide enough information for the onboard computer to take over from the driver. </p><p>Swedish carmaker Volvo is including lidar from software firm Luminar Technologies as standard on its flagship XC90 fully-electric SUV to be released in 2022. German carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz, as well as China's Xpeng and US-based Lucid Motors are also launching vehicles in 2021 and 2022 with lidar as an option. US-based Velodyne Lidar has recently opened a design centre in India to co-operate with automotive research centres to develop automotive-grade products.</p><p>US firm Microvision, which completed development of its long-range A-Sample lidar platform in April, is looking to raise $140mn from an equity offering to finance its strategy. It expects to start selling initial quantities in the third or fourth quarter of this year.</p><p>US-based Sense Photonics has launched a scalable automotive lidar platform to enable tailored ADAS and AV system adoption for any vehicle, it said. The company also announced a development programme with an unnamed Detroit-based automotive original equipment manufacturer, reflecting demand for the technology.</p><p>Manufacturers are working to reduce the size of their sensors to enable more applications. Japanese conglomerate Toshiba earlier this month launched an updated compact lidar that is one third the size of an earlier prototype, as the firm looks to expand its technology to transportation infrastructure monitoring as well as autonomous driving. Similarly, German lidar maker SICK has introduced a new sensor with US firm Maxim Integrated Products to reduce the size of its microScan3 safety laser scanner by 50pc. The smaller design allows the scanner to be used on vehicles and machines that have limited mounting space.</p><p>Outside of the automotive industry, Samsung Electronics has launched a new robot vacuum cleaner that uses lidar to calculate its location and optimise its path. Chinese robotics firm LDROBOT today launched its LD-AIR LiDAR 360-degree sensor to enable robots to scan any area autonomously.</p><p>US-based Quanergy, which provides lidar sensors and 3D perception software, is going public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company to raise $278mn to finance its growth. The company has so far focused on the Internet of Things (IoT) sector, launching 10 new products in 2020. It expects the IoT lidar market to reach $16.7bn by 2030 and plans to expand into the automotive market, where it expects accelerating adoption of Level 4 autonomy to lift the market to $10.6bn by 2030.</p><p class="bylines">By Nicole Willing</p></article>
