Over the past several years, LiDAR sensors have gained adoption in a variety of applications. The LiDAR industry has experienced tremendous growth — according to market research, it is estimated to be growing at a compound annual growth rate of ~20% from 2023 to 2028 and will achieve a market size of $3.7B USD by 2028.
LiDAR, which stands for Lighting Detection And Ranging, refers to a family of sensors and techniques that uses light to detect objects and measure distances. At a high level, LiDAR sensors emit light waves which travel, hit objects, and return back to the sensor, from which information about objects and how far they are can be determined. For more specifics on the mechanism behind LiDAR, please read The Wave Physics behind LiDAR, RADAR, Infrared (IR), SONAR, & Ultrasonic Sensors.
In this article, we’ll explore three application areas of LiDAR sensors: self-driving cars, ecological surveying, and augmented reality.
(Note: this list isn’t exhaustive. There’s a lot of great work being done, and it is at a rate much faster than what can be covered or written about).
Self-Driving Cars
LiDAR is often equated to the second set of eyes for cars. LiDAR sensors can generate highly accurate and precise point clouds of a car’s environment, which is extremely useful for autonomous vehicles to achieve object and event detection and response (OEDR). With recent advancements in LiDAR technology, the price tag for LiDAR sensors has reduced significantly — once costing as much as $75K, now LiDAR can be equipped to a car for as little as several hundreds of dollars. Many automakers are integrating LiDAR into vehicles and using it to develop autonomous solutions. (It should be noted that Tesla stands as an exception).
Moreover, given LiDAR’s ability to construct highly accurate and precise 3D point clouds of its environment, some autonomous vehicle manufacturers use LiDAR to create entire maps of geographical areas, i.e. geofencing, which are then used to improve navigation. Waymo and Cruise, two autonomous robotaxi companies, leverage LiDAR to create detailed maps of their service area and are able to provide Level 4 driving automation.
The key takeaway is that LiDAR has enabled a lot of advancements for autonomous vehicles, and with lowering cost, is expected to continue being integrated by auto manufacturers.
Ecological Surveying
Another popular application of LiDAR is for remote sensing of ecosystems. Some examples of this include environmental hazard assessment (i.e., following natural disasters), nature conservation (i.e., monitoring forest health), and agricultural management (i.e., detecting crop issues and measuring yield). A challenge with environmental surveying is the large amount of ground to cover and the high level of detail and precision required. That’s where LiDAR comes in, in particular topographic and bathymetric LiDAR, which are used to map land and seafloor / riverbeds, respectively. Topographic LiDAR uses near-infrared light whereas bathymetric LiDAR uses green light that is able to penetrate through the water.
For ecological surveying, LiDAR sensors are equipped to airborne devices such as planes or drones. The airborne devices can cover lots of ground quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, LiDAR sensors can send thousands to hundreds of thousands of laser pulses, thus allowing broad coverage of the terrain. With LiDAR surveying, we can make highly detailed, 3D maps of the environment, which is helpful for a variety of applications such as environment research / conservation, urban planning, agricultural development, and more.
Augmented Reality
So far, the examples of LiDAR discussed are part of larger, complex systems, such as autonomous vehicles or airborne devices, but LiDAR sensors are now appearing in our day-to-day devices. In 2020, Apple unveiled and released iPhones and iPads that feature LiDAR sensors. This is one of the first times LiDAR is being used for such consumer electronics — it’s a hallmark in engineering to design LiDAR sensors in this form factor and at fairly consumer-friendly prices (i.e., for around one thousand dollars USD instead of several thousands of dollars USD).
The advantage of LiDAR in Apple devices is an enhanced augmented reality experience. Apple’s ARKit got major improvements in motion capture, people occlusion, and scene geometry. A great example is the Measure app, which is faster and more accurate in estimating the dimensions of objects on LiDAR-equipped devices. As more smartphone and tablet devices are built with LiDAR, we’ll see improved augmented reality apps and experiences. LiDAR sensors can help to address many of the barriers facing augmented reality, such as granular environment measurements, robust object detection, and faster / easier computation.
Conclusion
LiDAR technology has seen massive growth over the past several years — some even call it a modern-day gold rush. In this article, we saw how LiDAR is being used for autonomous vehicles, ecological surveying, and augmented reality. As the technology develops, achieves a smaller form factor, and cheaper prices, we’ll see LiDAR being more ubiquitous in a variety of applications.
