Sense Photonics Reveals New LiDAR System With 200m Range For Autonomous Cars

Sense Photonics announced today that it has achieved an industry-first by successfully demonstrating 200-metre detection with its proprietary global shutter flash LiDAR system. According to the company, the system leverages the company's proprietary emitter and SPAD sensor technologies. Sense's camera-like architecture enables the first high-resolution, eye-safe, global shutter flash LiDAR that can detect 10 per cent reflective targets at 200 meters range in full sunlight outputting tens of millions of points per second. Global shutter acquisition sets a new standard in the long-range LiDAR industry by removing the need for complex motion blur correction while allowing pixel-level, frame-by-frame fusion with RGB camera data.

Hod Finkelstein, CTO, Sense Photonics, said, “We have delivered what industry experts thought was impossible due to our 940nm wavelength, and have created a revolutionary new architecture with the Sense Illuminator, Sense Silicon, and our state-of-the-art signal processing pipeline to miniaturize the data output. Our LiDAR systems will solve the shortcomings that OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and Robotaxi companies have been dealing with in competing LiDAR technologies.”

Given that the company is targeting this technology for use in autonomous cars, it is geared specifically for mass-market automotive adoption. And unlike legacy LiDAR technologies, Sense's flash architecture eliminates the need for fine alignment between emitter & receiver, maintaining sensor calibration and depth accuracy during shock and vibration. Additionally, the architecture is designed as a platform to allow for customer-specific product variations with a simple change in optics and the first to be able to provide both short- and long-range capabilities from the same architecture.

Shauna McIntyre, CEO, Sense Photonics. “Sense pushed the boundaries of performance by designing application-specific VCSELs and SPADs that take advantage of the economics of wafer-scale fabrication.”

Customer evaluation systems for this technology are being finalised and will be available mid-2021 to meet current demand requirements, with start of production being planned for late 2024.