In 2019, we published a DVN Study about the lidar ecosystem: Automotive Lidar: Hype or Must-Have?. The study’s conclusion was twofold: lidar is a must for progressing driving automation, but also a hype item if we consider the investment, running into the hundreds of millions of Dollars or Euros, put into a giant variety of companies and technologies in an embryonic phase of the industry.
Two years on, to look through the relevant websites, newsletters, webinars, and conferences is to see that information about automotive lidar and driving automation is steadily growing; one might reasonably even say it’s exploding. New performance records, rapid technology progress and breakthroughs, new coöperations, and other suchlike are announced every week in the lidar ecosystem. Superlatives—furthest, most accurate, most reliable, cheapest, smallest—abound in claims from the various companies.
In this dynamic environment, we at DVN are here to serve as a moderator in the discussion—just as we’ve been doing for over a decade in the vehicle lighting space. To that end, following on the smashingly successful virtual 3rd DVN Lidar Conference in 2020, we’re excited to announce the 4th DVN Lidar Conference, this time as a live event in Frankfurt. We are hard at work to provide the lidar community with a grand opportunity to interact with customers, suppliers, colleagues, and researchers to sharpen the view of automotive lidar’s future. Find details about the conference in this week’s in-depth report. We all look forward to a successful conference and to seeing you in Frankfurt!