Innoviz plans to massively slash costs with 2nd generation of its lidar sensors
Although the automotive industry is on the way to a highly automated future, it will still take several years to achieve this goal. Today, even the most advanced L2+1 platforms still face technical limitations that lead to safety issues, hinder growth and make it impossible to achieve a higher level of automation in the long term. Only a few particularly advanced car manufacturers are able to make the quantum leap themselves that is required to offer L32 vehicles. To achieve this, engineers have to validate the technology in all driving scenarios over several years until they are ready to take full responsibility before launching an L3 vehicle on the market.
To enable a safer and smoother introduction of automation, the industry will need to introduce L2+ functionality, but with hardware that already supports L3 and L43 when they are brought to market. With more and more effectively equipped vehicles, automakers will be able to collect roadway data and release more advanced functionality to the same vehicles via over-the-air updates, with more and more functions being added to meet L3 and L4. To pursue this strategy, the hardware must meet more advanced technical requirements while remaining below the price point of today’s L2 technology.
To enable the vision of highly automated driving, Innoviz has now introduced a new generation of its lidar sensor, the InnovizTwo.
It has always been the pioneers in the industry, such as BMW, who have set the standard for other players in the automotive sector by introducing the latest, most innovative technologies. For example, BMW has chosen to use InnovizOne via Magna as a Tier 1 supplier for its L3-L4 autonomous vehicle program in 2018. Almost three years later, the Israeli high-tech company InnovizTwo announces that Magna will be the Tier 1 supplier. The design of this lidar sensor should not only offer a cost reduction of more than 70% compared to InnovizOne, but also significant performance improvements. Samples of the sensor should be available in the third quarter of 2021.
The inclusion of Innoviz’s high-performance lidar and its perception software in L2+ platforms will not only advance the automation of driving, but will also enable automakers, Tier 1 companies and other stakeholders such as Innoviz itself to collect data on their customer base. L2+ drivers will continue to be responsible for driving, but new features will be continuously validated, and later, when safety is statistically proven, it will be possible to upgrade the software to the full L3 version without hardware changes.
More information: https://www.innoviz.tech
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