Innoviz Technologies Ltd (INVZ)

[WeTheMarket]

The battle for LiDAR: Omar Kielf vs. Elon Musk
20 June, 2022
https://techtime.co.il/2022/06/20/lidar-5/

The LiDAR Coalition, led by Innoviz CEO Omar Kilef and Velodyne CEO Dr. Ted Tewkesbury, seeks to promote legislation encouraging the use of LiDAR in vehicles. In front of them stands Elon Musk, who believes that this sensor is a "blessing to undo"



The world's leading LiDAR sensor manufacturers, including the Israeli company Innoviz, announced the establishment of a joint consortium, The LiDAR Coalition, with the aim of promoting the adoption of LiDAR technology in driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving, and in road infrastructures such as traffic lights. The coalition will make efforts to persuade U.S. decision makers, legislators, and regulators to recognize the need to integrate LiDAR sensors into safety systems, and to enshrine this in law, regulations, and as a category in the safety rating of vehicle models. This is in order to improve the performance of these systems, especially in poor visibility conditions, and to reduce road carnage and damage to pedestrians.

The coalition formulated a position paper drafted by Innoviz's Executive Director Omar Kilf and Velodyne Director General Dr. Ted Tewkesbury, which stated: "In recent years, we have witnessed a tragic increase in the number of pedestrians killed on U.S. roads. We must adopt innovative technologies that will help prevent traffic accidents and reverse this trend. That's why we're forming the Coalition of Companies to promote, through lobbying among decision makers, the adoption of life-saving technology that has the greatest potential to protect the safety of pedestrians."

LiDAR saves lives
The document presents official data, according to which there was a 46% jump in the number of pedestrians killed in road accidents between 2011 and 2020: from 4,457 in 2011 to 6,516 fatalities in 2020. The National Road Safety Authority (NHTSA) in the US reported that in 2021 there was a very large increase in the number of fatalities: 42,915 people were killed in traffic accidents. The breakdown of the data shows that 75% of pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents that occurred at dusk or at night. "This data shows that to protect vulnerable road users, we need to adopt solutions specifically tailored to dark conditions."

LiDAR manufacturers point to a technological flaw that impairs the ability of safety systems, such as automatic emergency braking, frontal collision warning, lane deviation, and more, to detect pedestrians in dark conditions. IIHS, which is owned and established by all U.S. insurance companies to reduce the number of road accidents, recently assessed that automatic radar or camera-based emergency braking systems (PAEB) failed to improve the ability to detect pedestrians in dark conditions — compared to vehicles not equipped with PAEB systems.



A LiDAR sensor is an active optical scanning sensor that provides 3D vision capability. The LiDAR system transmits short laser signals in the form of a scan, and measures the direction and return times of the signals. The processor in the sensor produces a "dot image" of the vehicle's surroundings from these measurements. This image is analyzed by an orientation algorithm that identifies the objects in the vehicle's environment.

Since this is an active system based on the measurement of initiated radiation, the detector is not affected by the lighting conditions. It operates in day and night conditions and is not affected by blinding light. Previously, LiDAR sensors were mainly used in military and space industry applications, as they were very expensive. Today, many companies operate, including Innoviz, which produce new sensors at a price level suitable for mass integration into the automotive industry.

Kielf and Tewkesbury write that current-generation LiDAR sensors, "have a high resolution that allows them to detect stationary pedestrians. We believe that LiDAR should be a necessary component of any safety system designed to identify pedestrians. We cannot remain complacent in the face of the dismal data: not using LiDAR in collision prevention systems means ignoring half of the equation. The coalition will work so that the administration recognizes these facts and that this recognition is reflected in policy."

Musk flagged LiDAR as a threat to Tesla
The biggest opponent of the idea is Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla, who repeatedly argues that there is no need to use LiDAR systems. He claimed that "the use of LiDAR has become more expensive and unnecessary" and even called it a "blessing to fool's errand". Musk believes that in-vehicle sensing systems can only be based on cameras, even for fully autonomous driving. In his opinion, it is possible to overcome the poor functioning of the cameras in difficult visibility conditions by improving the algorithm for deciphering the image and using neural networks.

In 2019, during a presentation on Tesla's activities in the field of autonomous driving, he stated: "Anyone who relies on LiDAR – is lost. Lost. This is an expensive and unnecessary sensor. Eventually the automakers will give it up. You'll see." It is worth noting that his opinion is unacceptable to the automotive industry. The LiDAR is a significant component of the autonomous vehicle developed by Google, it is integrated into GM's Auto-Cruise system, BMW and another major automaker have decided to acquire Innoviz's LiDAR sensors, and even Mobileye has developed a LiDAR sensor in collaboration with Intel for its autonomous driving package.

By the way, Inviz's business model is based on the fact that the cost of the sensor meets the conditions of automakers and does not create an unnecessary load on pricing. About a year ago, Tesla test vehicles were spotted on the roads of the United States with a Luminar LiDAR system installed on their roof. The industry thought that Tesla had withdrawn from the absolute veto over LiDAR systems, but a few months ago it became clear that it had not yet: in the patent application that Tesla recently filed, it was written that the LiDAR system is used to train and validate the autonomous driving system – and is not intended to be a component of the sensing system itself.