Of the many sensors loaded on today's self-driving vehicles, lidar (lightar detection and ranging) is the most critical and the most 'good way'. Imaging by Yole Developpement, a French-based market research organization. Pierre Cambou, head of the sensor department, said that it is difficult for him to imagine that there is no Guangda for self-driving. The agency predicts that the market of Guangda will reach a scale of US$1.6 billion by 2022 and further grow to US$31.5 billion by 2032.
However, the technology that drives Everbright is still changing, and there are new developments at any time. For example, senior analyst Akhilesh Kona, a senior analyst of automotive electronics and automotive semiconductors at IHS Markit, a market research institute, once said that he had received an interview with EE Times. Suppliers continue to develop various beam-steering technologies, including mechanical, MEMS, and solid-state, to improve the durability, size, and cost of Everlight.
As manufacturers compete to launch even more brilliant Guangda, one question that everyone will want to ask is: Who is the supplier of optical technology leadership? One way to find the answer to the above question is based on the patent file related to Guangda Technology. . Knowmade, the IP analysis and patent evaluation agency of Yole Developpement, recently studied the vehicle light-up devices and systems, and confirmed that there are more than 6,480 patent families related to automotive light.
Patent Family Analysis Related to Automotive Use (Source: KnowMade)
Although this kind of patent activity can be traced back to the late 1960s, the number of relevant patent publications has exploded in the past few years. In particular, between 2007 and 2017, the compound annual average growth rate (CAGR) of the number of patented technologies reached 21 %. From the manufacturer's point of view, in the early days, Bosch, Denso and Valeo, etc. dominated the field of patent related to automotive light.
Knowmade technology and patent analyst Paul Leclaire described the aforementioned manufacturers as 'historic IP vendors'; according to his observations, most of their patents were 'associated with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) applications, based on the progressive development of technologies and the use of Limited white space; 'The so-called 'limited blank area' means that it is difficult to apply for a new patent if there are other patents that do not overlap, in which case the patent application is less likely to be approved. .
However, Leclaire pointed out that the activities of those historic IP vendors alone cannot explain the increase in the number of IP-based technologies in recent years. There are many new entrants in the field of Guangda, which fall into the following categories:
Semiconductor manufacturers' IP
First-class vendors include semiconductor vendors such as Qualcomm, LG Innotek, Ricoh, and Texas Instruments (Texas Instruments). Leclaire explained that their contributions include the use of non-scanning technology to reduce the size of light, and to use high pulse rates. Increased speed; The patents of those manufacturers suggest that beam steering technology has become the new darling of the industry, and the market began to see some of the composite solutions (detectors and lasers) that are specifically applied to the optical fiber.
Pure IP provider
Other newcomers include Quanergy, Velodyne, Luminar and LeddarTech, etc. Leclaire claims that they are 'pure IP operators' dedicated to the development of Everlight's technology, and patents focus on highly specific patented technologies that enable product assertions. And its application.
It is worth noting that China's Guangda IP developers, such as Lei Shen, Robosense, Hesai, etc., said that these Chinese companies are mainly in two and three years. Former newcomers who entered the field of IP Optoelectronics Technology IP before most of their patent applications are still pending or have not extended to markets outside China; but he also pointed out that the IPs of those companies are related to their already listed products. related.
Self-driver
The last category of Everlight technology developers is the self-drive manufacturer itself; Leclaire pointed out that these manufacturers use Guangda as one of the tools to provide complex embedded sensing systems, such as Google, Waymo, Uber, Zoox and Faraday Future. Chinese companies such as Baidu and Chery also own Guangda IP.
According to Knowmade's research, for most self-driving suppliers, Everbright is the central component of its patented sensing solution, and many of their patents are related to computing methods and processes.
As to which potential technologies are expected to accelerate the development of light, Leclaire pointed out two ways. One is to use new light sources such as lasers and vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The second is beamforming technology.
He said that the use of VCSELs as a new type of laser light source has the advantages of including smaller angular divergence and smaller laser arrays, as well as higher output power. However, beamforming methods and beam steering methods are increasingly It is often mentioned in patents related to solid-state light.
So does Knowmade recognize which players dominate the new light source or the field of beamforming IP? Leclaire said no, its team's analysis focused only on vehicle light devices and systems: 'We did not analyze lasers, VCSELs, light. Photodetectors, SPAD (single photon avalanche detector, single photon avalanche diodes), APD (disconnected diodes) and other technologies in the IP domain, and there is no analysis of the IP domain associated with beamforming technology.
Below we have listed a few examples of patented technologies for new manufacturers in the market. Please click on the link reference:
Qualcomm: US2017082735 Ricoh: US2017123063LG Innotek: WO2017023107Quanergy: US2016161600Quanergy: US2015192677Faraday future: WO2017177205Zoox: WO2017079321Uber: US9841763A compilation: Judith Cheng