{"id":10701,"date":"2016-01-11T21:34:06","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T04:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=10701"},"modified":"2016-01-11T21:34:06","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T04:34:06","slug":"budget-solid-state-lidar-may-be-a-game-changer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/budget-solid-state-lidar-may-be-a-game-changer\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget, Solid-State LIDAR May Be a Game-Changer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seeing Google cars navigating our streets and highways, with their arrays of spinning sensors and antennas bristling from their roofs gives us the impression that the technology involved is complex and expensive.\u00a0 Until recently, they were, with Wired reporting that early Google cars had multiple $80,000 LIDAR systems, and entrants in DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) challenges often sported over a quarter-million in esoteric devices that could, on occasion, spot the Holy Spirit in the vicinity.\u00a0 (Your editor made that last part up.)<\/p>\n

\"Sebastian<\/a>

Sebastian Thrun, who oversees self-driving cars at Google (among other things), sitting on the 2005 DARPA Challenge winner. Note multiple LIDARs<\/p><\/div>\n

Mike Ramsey, writing for the Wall Street Journal<\/em> suggests those prices may be going down<\/a> \u2013 way down.\u00a0 \u201cA Silicon Valley startup says it has solved several of the issues that might plague the introduction of autonomous vehicles \u2014 primarily the cost of the equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuanergy Systems Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., says it will offer a light detection and ranging sensor \u2014 or LIDAR \u2014 next year that costs only $250 and is the size of a credit card. In 2018, it is promising a postage stamp-sized sensor for $100 or less. It\u2019s all made possible by a solid-state laser system, says Chief Executive Louay Eldada, whose PhD at Columbia University is the basis of the technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even today, Ford and others testing self-driving systems use a series of whirring, somewhat myopic devices to find their way \u2013 a bit like a blind-folded person getting a tug from a near-sighted guide dog on one hand, an audible cue from a sensor on their cane, and myriad other clues from dozens of other individually-limited units \u2013 each squinting out into a series of obstacles and hazards.<\/p>\n

Besides the expense of most LIDAR units, the cheapest running around $8,000, they don\u2019t work well in rain or snow.\u00a0 People probably won\u2019t be charmed by their cars looking like DARPA test vehicles.\u00a0 LIDAR measures objects a few hundred feet away, which would make it limited for in-flight use, where approaching objects are usually further away than in a typical driving scenario, and moving much quicker.\u00a0 The video below shows the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, with a collision between two competitors and interference from the Jumbotron preventing one entrant from even starting.<\/p>\n