Flash! Lidar's Next Generation Arrives

Technology solutions from new players and alliances are poised to drive down cost.

Electronics engineers may best know what typically happens in an emerging, rapidly moving technology space. First, innovation: Start-ups bring new solutions amid rounds of funding. Next is the often-protracted shakeout period. OEMs evaluate prototypes based on performance, quality, and cost; the technologies are refined. Product announcements are made. The “best way of doing it” becomes clearer.

Then come the Tier 1s, bringing their proficiency in manufacturing and cost engineering. They take the most valid architectures, knock most if not all the cost out of them, and create a cost-effective solution, at scale.