An image from AEye’s long-range, software-definable LiDAR system. The technology can see other … [+]
Continental AG is taking a minority stake in AEye Inc., a Dublin, California-based developer of LiDAR technology, in order to bring its autonomous vehicle technology to commercial vehicles sooner.
Specifically, AEye, founded in 2013, has developed a long-range LiDAR system that can detect vehicles at a distance of more than 300 meters and pedestrians at more than 200 meters.
Continental hopes the investment will enhance its current short-range LiDAR technology that is slated to go into production by the end of 2020.
Then the AEye system would be deployed in a automotive passenger or commercial vehicle later this decade.
”We now have optimum short-range and long-range LiDAR technologies with their complimentary sets of benefits under one roof,“ said Frank Petznick, head of Continental’s advanced driver assistance systems, in a statement.
Blair LaCorte, AEye CEO, said Continental’s investment will help provide the performance, scalability, packaging, reliability and safety needed to bring his company’s technology to market.
Continental and other companies developing automated vehicle technology are starting to focus more on larger commercial and industrial vehicles than on smaller passenger vehicles.
Because they are larger and much heavier, commercial vehicles need longer stopping distances and that presents challenges for the sensing and cameras needed to guide them safety. Automation for these vehicles will require a longer range of vision and greater resolution.
”By bringing leading edge technology together from all three environmental sensor areas, we are creating synergetic effects that will benefit vehicle manufacturers,“ Petznick said.
Neither company disclosed the amount Continental is investing, nor did they say how large Continental’s stake would be.
