self-driving start-up set to roll out first laser sensors - laser sensor

San Francisco by Alexander sagsang (Reuters)-
Luminar, Silicon Valley startup
Laser ready to make it-
Sensor-based self
Driving a car is a key part of improving vehicle safety, the company said on Thursday.
Founded in 2012 by two photon experts, Luminar has kept a low profile in the competition between automakers, startups and major technology companies to launch itself
Drive for the masses.
Luminar chief executive Austin Russell said in an interview that Luminar is building a manufacturing plant in Orlando, Florida, and will run 10,000 lidar sensors for the first time later this year.
Lidar represents light detection and ranging, emitting light pulses reflected on objects, allowing self-
Drive a car to "see" their environment. Many self-
Driving experts see it as a key component along with other sensors such as cameras and radar.
Lidar has been the subject of ongoing trade secrets litigation between Alphabet Inc. unit Waymo and Uber. [nL1N1HF12Y]
Waymo claims that a former employee stole the intellectual property rights of the lidar system that Uber later copied.
Russell said Lida for himself.
Driving cars on the market have evolved from hardware before self-driving cars.
Their limitations in scope and resolution make it unsuitable for them to launch themselves safely
Driving a car, he pointed out.
Russell said Luminar solved these deficiencies by using a 1550 nm wavelength that provides 50 times the resolution and 10 times the range of the best competitor Lidars.
He said that means that the car can "clearly see" a black object with a reflectivity of 10% from a place 200 away.
By contrast, so-
LIDAR called "Puck" from Velodyne, which produces most of the lidar used for self
Today, there are 100 prototype cars.
Four companies, including automakers and technology companies, are testing their products on a prototype of a driverless car, Russell said.
Manufacturers should focus on improving the ability of lidar rather than lowering prices to achieve self, Russell said
Driving a car is more affordable for the public.
"As prices go down, performance goes down," he said . ". (
Report by Alexander secch;
Edited by Richard Chang)