Machines that see – the Lidar revolution

The global market for Lidar in autonomous vehicles (AVs) is forecast to reach US$5.4 billion by 2030.

Analysis of more than 100 3D lidar companies shows technologies and markets in that field are rapidly evolving, a new IDTechEx Research report Lidar 2020-2030: Technologies, Players, Markets & Forecasts says.

Three-dimensional Lidar is an optical perception technology enabling machines to see the world, make decisions and navigate, presently used in machines from small service robots to large AVs.

IDTechEx has identified four important technology choices that every Lidar player and Lidar user must make – measurement process, laser, beam steering mechanism, and photodetector.

The beam steering mechanism is the most complicated and critical choice, it says.

The present state of the Lidar market is unsustainable because winning technologies and players will inevitably emerge, consolidating the technology and business landscapes, the report says.

Three-dimensional Lidar players targeting the AV market have secured US$1.9 billion in funding for product development.

About 25 automotive Lidar start-ups have announced funding of US$10 million or more, with 106 players developing 156 3D Lidar products.

The research on Lidar by Dr Nilushi Wijeyasinghe, an IDTechEx analyst, is part of a project on AVs directed by IDTechEx research director Dr Khasha Ghaffarzadeh.

The research is focused on players who position themselves as automotive Tier 2 suppliers.

The technology adoption roadmaps for six types of Lidar in four types of Level 3 plus AVs are evaluated to provide a balanced outlook on market opportunities.

IDTechEx Research’s forecast model of the Lidar market builds on its model for autonomous mobility, which considers a peak car scenario from 2032.

The peak car scenario partly results from the wide adoption of autonomous shared mobility vehicles.

Visit www.IDTechEx.com/Lidar or contact Research@IDTechEx.com for more information.