Even Musk can’t stop it! On the eve of mass production of L3 autonomous driving, LiDAR becomes standard for smart cars

Obtaining automotive regulations certification has cleared most of the obstacles before mass production of LeiShen LiDAR products.

LeiShen Intelligent's CH series lidar adopts a hybrid solid-state solution based on its unique prism scanning, which is similar to Valeo's scanning solution. Both are also the only solutions in the industry that have been verified by formal testing for their compliance with automotive regulations.

It can be seen that there are deep-seated reasons why Huawei chose a rotating mirror scanning architecture solution similar to that of Raytheon and Valeo when entering the laser radar market.

Recently, LeiShen Intelligent has made a major technological breakthrough in the miniaturization technology of automotive-grade high-beam hybrid solid-state laser radar. This technology can be customized and developed according to the personalized requirements of radar size, weight, etc. according to different vehicle models, functions and different installation locations.

It is also about to launch a 128-line automotive hybrid solid-state laser radar that is only 50mm high as the main perception radar for passenger cars, and a large field of view, high-line-count automotive hybrid solid-state laser radar CH64W as a blind spot radar, which will be used in combination to achieve autonomous driving for passenger cars.

Of course, all technological breakthroughs and progress in automotive-grade verification are paving the way for the mass production of lidar in vehicles.

Information obtained by Auto Heart shows that LeiShen Intelligent has already obtained the LiDAR Product Specification Requirement (SOR) from several leading OEMs including BMW and new car manufacturers including NIO and Xpeng, and is promoting further cooperation.

According to LeiShen, the batch price of more than 1,000 laser radars will be less than US$1,000 by then.

LeiShen Intelligent Automotive-Grade Hybrid Solid-State LiDAR CH120

In addition, in the field of heavy trucks, in August this year, LeiShen Intelligent also reached a cooperation with Shaanxi Automobile Holding, and the two parties will jointly carry out the research and development of automotive-grade MEMS solid-state laser radar.

It is reported that this laser radar will use LeiShen's self-developed MEMS galvanometer and 1550nm fiber laser, and will be mass-produced and installed on Shaanxi Automobile Heavy Truck's autonomous driving commercial models in the future.

It is reported that this product is directly targeted at Luminar's Iris, a long-range lidar that also uses a 1550nm fiber laser as a light source.

Xpeng Motors has not yet announced the exact lidar supplier.

But according to comprehensive industry information, Xiaopeng Motors is testing products from multiple lidar manufacturers including LeiShen and Ouster.

According to He Xiaopeng, Xpeng Motors has been researching the use of lidar in cars since the first half of 2019 and has done a lot of research and development work. Its first mass-produced smart car equipped with lidar will be launched in 2021.

From 2017 to 2020, more than a dozen automakers around the world have finalized plans for mass production of LiDAR front-end systems.

And as agreed, the implementation time of this batch of laser radar mass production projects is basically set in 2021-2022.

What is certain is that the next two years will see an explosion in the mass production of LiDAR front-end products.

3. LiDAR companies are rushing to go public to prepare for a market explosion

In addition to the automotive market, many existing laser radars on the market are also expanding their layout on the field and road sides, making this high-performance sensor the "eye in the sky" in the vehicle-road collaborative roadside perception system and the smart parking lot perception system.

Many of the lidar companies mentioned above have already obtained vehicle-road collaboration and new transportation infrastructure-related projects in some cities in China, and will deploy lidar sensors at the roadside.

This approach will not only expand shipments and accelerate the self-sustaining growth of lidar companies, but will also accelerate the implementation of vehicle-side autonomous driving.

In addition to expanding shipment channels, many LiDAR companies are also planning to enter the capital market to obtain more funds to support the next R&D plans and pre-installed mass production.

Currently, Velodyne is listed on the U.S. stock market with a current market value of approximately US$2.55 billion.

On the evening of December 4, the American lidar company Luminar successfully went public through SPAC, with a market value of US$2.1 billion.

Another interesting piece of information is that the company’s current lidar order contracts are worth $1.5 billion.

Aeva, a lidar company also based in Silicon Valley, is also planning to go public.

According to the latest news from Bloomberg, Israeli lidar company Innoviz is also planning to go public through SPAC and is currently negotiating with shell company Collective Growth to raise US$100 million to US$350 million in financing.

It is reported that after the merger, the valuation of the two parties will reach 1 billion US dollars.

Velodyne, Luminar, Aeva, and Innoviz all chose to go public through the SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) method, with the aim of obtaining financial support from the capital market as soon as possible.

In China, Hesai Technology and RoboSense also intend to list on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, but there is no further clear news yet.

According to foreign media reports, Hesai Technology's valuation exceeded US$1 billion. In 2019, Hesai sold thousands of lidars, with total revenue of approximately RMB 300 to 400 million.

As for RoboSense, its current valuation and LiDAR shipments are still unknown.

Of course, going public is not the end for these LiDAR companies. More capital investment will accelerate the development of the LiDAR market.

At this stage, L2+ and L3 high-level autonomous driving are the key areas of competition among major automakers, and this will also be the key market for all lidar companies to compete in the future.

In the more distant L4 autonomous driving market, in the next 5-10 years, autonomous driving travel services will be deployed on a large scale. Autonomous driving taxis will replace current taxis, express trains and private cars, and will generate a market of tens of millions of vehicles.

As an emerging automotive component, there will be an opportunity for industry giants like NVIDIA and Sony to emerge among the current lidar companies.