
Infineon buys LIDAR specialist in autonomous car push
With this acquisition, Infineon says it now has capabilties in LIDAR, radar and camera technologies for forthcoming semi-automated and fully automated cars. “With this acquisition, we take a big step into the LIDAR technology that will play an important role in the safety cocoon essential to fully automated cars,” said Peter Schiefer, President of the Automotive division at Infineon. “We intend to make LIDAR an affordable feature for every new-built car worldwide”.
The first LIDAR systems expected to be introduced in premium cars within the next couple of years will be based on mechanical scanning mirrors and consequently are bulky and expensive. To become a standard feature in all car classes, LIDAR systems need, Infineon says, to be semiconductor-based; more compact, cost-effective, and robust.
Innoluce was founded in 2010 as an entrepreneurial spin-off of Royal Philips. It is a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, near the Dutch-German border. The company has a strong expertise in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). Innoluce is an innovator of miniature laser scanning modules that integrate silicon-based solid-state MEMS micro-mirrors. Such micro-mirrors are necessary to adjust the laser beams in automotive light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems.
Innoluce: www.innoluce.com
Infineon: www.infineon.com
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