AEye Inc (LIDR)

[WeTheMarket]

AEye is Addressing Customer Needs Through a New Adaptive Sensing Platform
Kim Griffin, Benzinga Partner
January 03, 2022
https://m.benzinga.com/article/24857497?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fduckduckgo.com%2F&utm_source=https%3A%2F%2Fduckduckgo.com%2F

Recently, the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium (AVSC) released guidelines to help these companies evaluate the competency of their automated cars and trucks. Part of the technology that makes automated driving possible is light detection and ranging (LiDAR), which determines ranges using lasers scanning the environment to develop high-resolution 3D maps of the surrounding area.

One issue sometimes referenced with LiDAR is that it lacks smarts- using a fixed scan pattern to evaluate a dynamic environment. Not only that, but it can be expensive, with hardware replacements required to upgrade the system. Plus, traditional LiDAR has been known to be inefficient in inclement weather, and simply doesn’t work in some areas or with certain surroundings.

The good news is there is an advancement, states AEye Inc.

Increasing Innovation for Adaptation
AEye says that its state-of-the-art 4Sight Adaptive LiDAR system uses artificial intelligence (AI) and edge processing to give both industrial and automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers the power to customize performance and add their own compelling features. These businesses can leverage AEye’s software-configurable platform to adapt the sensor’s scan patterns to address their specific needs and use cases, as well as its modular architecture to optimize for placement in various locations on the vehicle. Whether they need long-range abilities for applications like highway autopilot, a wide field-of-view for traffic and merging situations, or highly specialized systems to address specific needs in markets like rail, ITS and construction, AEye believes its software-driven model can not only accommodate, but excel.

AEye says the intelligent software located on the sensor enhances its ability to sense the environment to detect and analyze what’s necessary and reduce false positives, all while keeping costs down. And the single-platform business model allows for efficiency and adaptability across multiple markets, according to the company.

Supply Chain Optimization
With the flexibility of AEye’s product and its unique business model, the company offers a high margin, capital-light business model that drives scale and reduces cost. AEye uses a single product platform and supply chain across industries, and goes to market through Tier 1 suppliers in automotive, and contract manufacturers and system integrators in industrial markets. In this way, AEye is able to increase efficiencies and accelerate the rollout of targeted systems that address specific needs in the market through key partnerships.

For example, AEye has licensed its 4Sight platform to Continental, one of the world's leading suppliers of ADAS solutions, which includes the installation of more than 20 million LiDAR systems in over 60 different vehicle models, to mass produce a custom long-range LiDAR system for use in applications like highway autopilot. In other vertical markets, like Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS), AEye is working with its system integrator partners to help companies like Mitsubishi Electric enhance their smart cities applications.

This approach, of leveraging AEye’s 4Sight sensor design and software and a single platform to enable unique products from aerospace and defense to rail and mining, is designed to keep costs low while uniquely meeting the needs of varied customers.

A Road to the Future
AEye claims to have the only LiDAR platform that can adapt through software and meet the wide-ranging needs of markets and customers. Using the knowledge acquired at places like Lockheed Martin Corp.

The ability to take that technology and provide industries with adaptive software that increases innovation might not only launch a safer rollout of autonomous automobiles but provide a roadmap and key ingredient to developing products in adjacent sectors.