Pioneer’s addition to driverless car: Microscopic mirrors
When it comes to helping driverless cars see, automakers have a choice between bulky top-mounted contraptions or cheaper but unproven laseron-a- chip technology. Pioneer Corp thinks it can deliver the best of both worlds.
The Japanese company has developed a new type of lidar — or laser radar — intended to drive its expansion into the burgeoning field of autonomous cars. At the Tokyo Motor Show this week, it’s showing off prototypes for the first time that use a swiveling, microscopic mirror to bounce pulses of light from surrounding objects. Because the device doesn’t employ the motor drive of its larger spinning cousins, it comes in a smaller package with a lower chance of mechanical failure.
Pioneer, a name once synonymous with cutting-edge electronics, plans to stake out a place in future car technology. It’s pushing into a lidar market projected to be worth $1.34 billion by 2024, but crowded with established players from Velodyne Lidar Inc. to LeddarTech Inc. Undeterred, Pioneer began shipping samples months ago and aims to sell its devices for under $100 when mass production begins as soon as 2020.
“Our advantage is that we have long experience in both the optical field as well as car navigation,’’ Satoshi Ohdate, the company’s senior executive officer in charge of consumer car electronics, said in an interview at the exhibition.