WiMi Hologram Cloud Inc (WIMI)

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Lidar "New Force", WiMi Hologram AI Vision Aiming at 100 Billion Market.

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https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/relnews/us/2021-04-06/doc-ikmyaawa7666780.shtml

April 06, 2021 09:36 Tencent Watchlist

Unknowingly, from the first laser in 1960 to the present, sixty years of flicking, lidar has gone from the initial remote ranging to eye examinations, and then to the promotion of sweeping robots into thousands of homes . Ten thousand households. With the advent of the era of autonomous driving, lidar has even stood in the center of the stage.
Driven by the demand for autonomous driving, lidar technology will see exponential progress.

What is lidar?
The biggest advantage of lidar over other autonomous driving sensors is actually the ability to accurately model the surrounding environment in 3D. Millimeter-wave radar can measure distances at high speeds, cameras can identify lane lines, speed limit signs, etc., ultrasonic radars have too short a practical detection range and are only suitable for low-speed parking, while lidars can accurately identify targets and detect dynamic obstacles. Tracking is not available in other sensors.

LiDAR is an active measuring device that measures the precise distance between an object and a sensor by emitting laser light. It allows the vehicle to more accurately perceive the surrounding environment. It is widely regarded as advanced assisted driving (ADAS, L3 level) and no An essential component for human-driven (L4/l5) autonomous vehicles, it belongs to the "eyes of intelligent driving".

According to reports, more and more Lidar inquiry sheets are being sent to various manufacturers. Obviously, lidar is beginning to penetrate the ADAS market. However, relevant sources warned that do not expect only one lidar supplier to win this gamble.

Among all automotive sensor modes aimed at enhancing sensing and target detection, Lidar provides the most complex and diverse options so far. The technology used by each type of lidar system is often not only different in the light source, but also in the "ranging" and "imaging" methods. Some mature lidars are entering mass production. But new lidar technology is generally considered more promising-but it is currently only in the R&D or proof-of-concept stage. Inevitably, these lidars have huge differences in cost, size and performance.

What is more complicated is that more and more lidar manufacturers (estimated 70-80) have squeezed the market, and mergers and acquisitions have been fierce. Some lidar companies have gained new life by choosing SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) status. Many start-ups see SPAC as another way of financing and entering the public equity market.

The market will become more complex.
As lidar companies pursue different technologies, car manufacturers and first-tier companies have different views on how to apply lidar to which applications.

But the demand for lidar in the automotive industry is real. In the ADAS field alone, his company has received 15 to 16 different lidar quotation requests, all of which are for vehicles that ADAS plans to produce in 2025-26. Despite the differentiation of the lidar market, "automobile companies are beginning to bet on deployment in four to five years in the next 18 months.

Since 1995, two researchers from Carnegie Mellon University initially realized the first semi-autonomous driving in human history. Autonomous driving has been a representative of the top black technology in the United States, active in various research institutes and university laboratories. in. However, as the core sensor, lidar is full of controversy when it comes to autonomous driving.

In 2004, when autonomous driving just emerged, four sets of sensors that autonomous driving relies on-lidar, millimeter wave radar, ultrasonic radar, and cameras have all appeared. Especially lidar has been widely relied on, but lidar is also the most controversial.

Autonomous driving, as a new thing, definitely needs sufficient technical redundancy. Since it is laboratory development and technical path verification, it must be to get all the skill points and then quickly upgrade, so almost all autopilot companies choose to use lidar.

As the development of new energy vehicles has become a national strategy, autonomous driving has landed in many cities across the country. "Intelligent Connected Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0" proposes that in 2025, the proportion of partially automated driving (PA) and conditional automated driving (CA) vehicles equivalent to L2 and L3 will account for more than 50% of the car sales. As of February 1 this year, at least six automakers are expected to launch mass-produced models equipped with lidar this year, including Weilai, Xiaopeng, Great Wall, BMW and so on.

Data show that in 2019, the global market size of lidar is about 1.65 billion U.S. dollars, and the agency predicts that it is expected to exceed 10 billion U.S. dollars by 2025, and it is expected to reach 24 billion U.S. dollars in 2030.

The trend of smart cars is surging, and the industry chain has attracted much attention. In the context of the country encouraging the development of smart and connected cars, many car companies and technology companies have poured into the autonomous driving track, and related lidar companies may establish new production lines or announce new products. , And continue to accelerate the pace of "getting on the car"......

As a global AI visual holographic AR representative company, a company that has received a total of 170 million US dollars of strategic investment from investment institutions such as Weibo within a year of listing. WiMi Hologram seems to be catching up with it in the field of lidar. After the patent of the 3D holographic pulse laser processing device, many industry application customers showed strong market demand, so WiMi Hologram decided to develop the 3D holographic pulse laser radar product "WiMi HoloPulse LiDAR" to further expand the company's holographic product portfolio matrix .

WiMi HoloPulse LiDAR is a multi-functional holographic pulse 3D solid-state lidar, the goal is to reach a long detection distance of more than 200m, and can capture high-resolution 3D holographic images. LiDAR uses MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) micro galvanometers to provide high resolution, long detection range and wide field of view. Through dynamic control, LiDAR can flexibly adjust the vertical resolution and frame rate, such as allowing the dynamic definition of the focus area. LiDAR uses solid-state silicon detectors, which can reliably detect weak reflections of distant objects and strong reflections of close objects. Digital signal processing is to determine the precise position in three-dimensional space through filtering, correlation and statistical analysis. The point cloud generated by the LiDAR sensor can map the sensor environment in 3D. A single point cloud can be composed of tens of thousands of distance points (single distance measurement), which contains holographic data of 3D original environment information. The software stack extracts a lot of abstract information from the holographic data, transmits commands to the actuator through deep neural network control, and presents 3D holographic data.

The WiMi HoloPulse LiDAR LiDAR solution provides software development kits that match the hardware products, including target detection, classification and counting functions. Combined with software recognition algorithms, it can provide solutions for many fields (autonomous driving, environment perception, 3D holographic imaging, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), traffic management, 3D printing, etc.), and quickly expand the application market of holographic technology.

Public information shows that WiMi focuses on holographic cloud services, mainly in vehicle AR holographic HUD, 3D holographic pulse LiDAR, head-mounted light field holographic equipment, holographic semiconductor, holographic cloud software, holographic car navigation and other professional fields. Covering multiple links from holographic AR technology, 3D holographic pulse LiDAR technology, holographic vision semiconductor technology, holographic software development, holographic AR advertising technology, holographic AR entertainment technology, holographic ARSDK payment, and interactive holographic communication. Holographic cloud comprehensive technical solution provider.

2021 is the first year of mass production of Lidar and began to penetrate into assisted driving vehicles. Some customers have fixed points and will be mass-produced in 2021-2023. However, most models are still not equipped with Lidar, and Lidar vector production vehicles Further penetration has been relatively clear. With the decline in costs and the gradual increase in volume, the penetration rate of lidar in mass-produced vehicles will continue to increase. Therefore, major lidar manufacturers are closely cooperating with OEM and Tier1, and good technical exchanges, project pre-research and close cooperation are expected to lay a solid foundation for future customer projects.

Vehicle applications represent the forefront of current lidar technology, and the focus of the next wave is consumer electronics.

No matter what kind of innovation, the final positioning is nothing more than two: Either reduce operating costs by improving efficiency, or use model innovation as a means to improve economic benefits. From the perspective of consumer electronics, the only way to go is model innovation. The future direction is AR/VR, and lidar is the necessary key to realize this path.