How LiDAR Fits Into the Future of Autonomous Driving
The tracking technology may play a huge role in AV development
The future of autonomous driving is not simple. The complexity of a self-driving vehicle is exactly why it’s taking so long to safely bring them into the world.
There are a ton of uses for autonomous vehicles that are being tested more and more in the real world. In the future, we will see robo-taxis with Uber and Lyft stickers all over the road. Amazon will deliver packages via a self-driving vehicle and semis delivering thousands of pounds of materials could also be driverless.
One of the most important parts of the autonomous vehicle will be its “eyes” — how it sees the world around it. For most companies, the vehicle’s eyes will be LiDAR.
LiDAR, which stands for “light detection and ranging,” pulses out laser waves to navigate the surrounding environment and map the distance of objects. LiDAR can track the distance to an object within a few centimeters of accuracy from up to 60 meters away.
Perhaps the largest — or at least most interesting — player in autonomous vehicles is Tesla. Tesla, though, happens to be against LiDAR, opting for cameras and radar instead.
