Quanergy Collaborates with Koiti on Automotive Headlights With Built–In LiDAR Sensors

resource from: Quanergy Systems   

By Eric Walz

Silicon Valley based company Quanergy Systems, a leading provider of solid state LiDAR sensors located in Sunnyvale, California has partnered with Koiti Manufacturing Co., Ltd. based in Japan, to build automotive headlights with built in LiDAR sensors.

Quanergy is one of the technology industry leaders in 3D sensing technology. The company's 3D, time-of-flight LiDAR sensors were designed from the ground up to meet all six key commercialization criterias, which are price, performance, reliability, size, weight, and power efficiency.

Koiti is the world's largest producer of automotive lighting systems and its lighting products are used in 20% of the world's automobiles. Koiti's products are used by Toyota, GM, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen and others.

Quanergy Systems has been granted nine patents for their products and addresses the need in the automotive industry for 3D LiDAR sensors and LiDAR-based sensing systems. In the automotive industry, the availability of affordable LiDAR sensors enables broad, scalable deployment of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems.

The partnership, first announced in January, will allow Quanergy and Koito to combine lighting and LiDAR technologies to develop custom lighting systems for major automobile manufacturers for use in future autonomous vehicles. LiDAR emits short pulses of laser light so that software in a self-driving vehicle can create a real-time, high-definition 3D image of a vehicle's surroundings.

Unique Design

The headlights, which will be located on the corners of an autonomous vehicle, each contain two compact Quanergy S3 solid state LiDARs that can "see" forward and to the sides. The LiDAR provides real-time long-range 3D views of the environment around the vehicle, as well as the ability to recognize and track objects, such as pedestrians and other vehicles.

With this design, the sensors are seamlessly embedded inside the headlight assemblies, so they will not protrude or alter the exterior look of the headlights or the vehicle itself, which is important for vehicle designers. Additionally, by locating the LiDAR sensors on the inside of the headlight assembly, the assembly protects the sensors from dust, dirt, and water from the environment. Furthermore, headlight lens washers can be used to help ensure an unobstructed view for the sensors.

Quanergy's solid state S3 LiDAR embedded in the headlights of a vehicle can function as the primary sensors in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicle (AV) systems. As primary sensors, the LiDARs are used for (a) perception, (b) mapping and localization, and (c) occupancy grid detection, path planning and navigation, which are crucial self-driving car technologies.

The Quanergy S3 is the world's first and only compact, automotive-grade solid state LiDAR sensor with high reliability, as its solid state design has no moving parts.

CES Award

At this year's annual CES (global consumer electronics and consumer technology tradeshow), Quanergy Systems received a Best of Innovations Award in the Vehicle Intelligence category for its S3 solid state LiDAR system.

Investors

Investors in Quanergy Systems include, Mercedes Benz, TEEC Angel Fund, Wardenclyffe Partners, a seed fund formed by the founders of Tesla Motors, and others. Wardenclyffe Partners alone invested $40 million dollars in Quanergy Systems in December of 2014 to help fund the development of its LiDAR sensors.

In 2014, Quanergy Systems and Mercedes-Benz formed strategic partnership agreement to develop and deploy systems for enhanced automotive safety and autonomous vehicles. By August of 2016, Quanergy had raised over $150 million dollars from various investors. At the time, Quanergy CEO Louay Eldada told Fortune magazine in that its post-funding valuation has surged to $1.59 billion.

resource from: Quanergy Systems

Eric Walz

Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.