Self-driving car sensor market forecast, it is estimated that Lidar's market revenue will reach 1.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, the radar market revenue will reach 44 million U.S. dollars, the camera market revenue will reach 600 million U.S. dollars, the inertial measurement unit (IMU) market revenue will be It will reach US$900 million. In the longer term, LiDAR market revenue is expected to exceed US$31.5 billion by 2032, and the total revenue of sensor hardware will reach US$77 billion (data from: Self-driving Auto Sensor - 2018 Edition).
Pierre Cambou, head of imaging and sensor business at Yole, a market research organization, believes that with the wave of auto-pilot booms in the automotive industry, one or more LiDAR sensors are required for every self-driving car.
As a result, technologies that drive the development of LiDAR sensors continue to emerge, and new technologies follow. Meymers Consulting, in its LiDAR Sensor Series Report, provides an in-depth analysis of the types of LiDAR sensors used in self-driving automotive applications. Development Trends Whether it is mechanical, hybrid solid state or pure solid LiDAR suppliers, they are constantly improving technologies such as light sources, beam steering and detectors to improve LiDAR performance and reduce product size and cost.
LiDAR vendors are racing to introduce products with better performance. Then the market must ask: Who is the leader in the LiDAR field? Through LiDAR related patent applications, we can look a bit.
Yole's Knowmade, a wholly-owned subsidiary specializing in intellectual property analysis and patent evaluation, recently studied patents for LiDAR devices and systems for automotive applications. They have searched and confirmed more than 6,480 patent families in this field.
LiDAR related patent applications dynamic trends
Although patent applications in the field of LiDAR can be traced back to the 1960s, patent applications in this field have only begun to show explosive growth in recent years. In particular, the compound annual growth rate of LiDAR patent applications during 2007-2017 ( CAGR) up to 21%.
As can be seen from the above figure, early patent applications in this area were dominated by Bosch, Denso, and Valeo. Knowmade technology and patent analyst Paul Leclaire called these vendors 'historical IP'. Manufacturers'. Most of the patents they applied are related to 'ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) applications', applied for based on progressively developed technologies, and the technical 'blank' areas left in this application area have been limited. This means that It has been difficult to propose a patent application that does not overlap with the existing patents. Therefore, the chance of a new patent application being granted is already very small.
However, the patent applications of these historical IP vendors cannot explain the recent growth of patents in the LiDAR field, Leclaire said.
Knowmade subdivides the new patent applicants in this field into the following categories.
Semiconductor company
Applicants of this category mainly include semiconductor companies such as Qualcomm, LG Innotek, Ricoh (Ricoh) and Texas Instruments (TI, Texas Instruments). Leclaire explained that they mainly reduce the LiDAR size through non-scanning technology. High pulse rates increase LiDAR velocity. These patents from these manufacturers suggest how beam steering technology will become the new darling of the market, as well as the emerging combination of LiDAR (detectors, lasers).
Pure LiDAR manufacturer
Another group of new applicants includes pure LiDAR developers such as Quanergy, Velodyne, Luminar, and LeddarTech. Therefore, Leclaire described them as pure LiDAR patent applicants focusing on LiDAR development. Their patent applications focus on highly specialized patented technologies. Definite product and its application.
Of particular note are applicants for LiDAR patents from China. They mainly include LeiShen, Robosense, Hesai, etc. 'These major LiDAR developers in China have been in the past two years. New patent applicants entered the field only. As a result, most of their patents are still pending, and they have not expanded their layout to countries outside China. 'Leclaire said, 'Their patent portfolios are mostly Listed products related. '
In addition, in addition to these major company applicants, China's other patent applicants in LiDAR are mostly scientific research institutes.
Self-driving car supplier
The last new LiDAR patent applicants are self-driving car manufacturers. They use LiDAR sensors as 'a tool to provide a complete embedded sensor system', Leclaire said. Active manufacturers include: Google (Google), Waymo, Uber ( Uber), Zoox and Faraday Future (Faraday Future). Baidu (Baidu) and Chery (Chery Automobile) and other Chinese giants also have patent applications in the field of LiDAR.
For most autopilot vehicle suppliers, LiDAR is the core component of their patented sensing solutions. Many of their patents are related to 'calculation' methods and processes.
When it comes to 'prospective technologies' that can accelerate LiDAR development, Leclaire pointed out two types of technologies: (1) Emerging light sources such as VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser), and (2) Beamforming technology.
The advantages of using a VCSEL as a new laser source include: smaller divergence angle, VCSEL array, and high output efficiency.
Similarly, beamforming methods and beam steering operations have emerged in solid-state LiDAR related patents.