GM acquires Strobe, which makes it possible to reduce 99% of the cost by converting the LIDAR system indispensable for automatic driving cars into one chip

Automotive manufacturer General Motors (GM) develops LIDAR system indispensable for automatic driving carsStrobeWe announced that it will acquire. With the acquisition of Strobe, it seems that GM will gain a great advantage in the development competition of automatic driving cars.

How we are solving the LIDAR problem - Kyle Vogt - Medium
https://medium.com/kylevogt/how-were-solving-the-lidar-problem-8b4363ff30db

GM to buy sensor - tech firm Strobe to speed up self - driving car push
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-strobe-m-a-gm/gm-to-buy-sensor-tech-firm-strobe-to-speed-up-self-driving-car-push-idUSKBN1CE1IS

LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) is a sensor that measures the distance to an object using laser light and is indispensable technology for practical application of automatic driving cars. The automatic driving car judges the change of the road condition by the image recognition using the camera, but in the camera there are scenes which do not function at all because it is difficult to recognize the object with a strong backlight or it is difficult to distinguish blacks at night , LIDAR not influenced by the environment becomes important.

Although it is LIDAR that can accurately detect small objects such as particles, the biggest obstacle for practical use is the price. For example, the LIDAR unit Google has adopted in the development of automatic driving cars is over $ 75,000 (about 8.2 million yen), and even in 2017 the high performance LIDAR unit that can be used for automatic driving cars is $ 10,000 It is an expensive device that does not go down (about 1.1 million yen). Also, as a big problem of practical application of LIDAR, the size of the unit is cited. In order to be mounted on the car body of a car, it is required to make the system more compact.


The company Strobe, which GM succeeded in acquiring this time, is developing technology that realizes miniaturization and significant cost reduction by making LIDAR sensor one chip. The following image is the prototype of early LIDAR developed by Strobe. We acquire both the accurate distance and speed to the object and check it against information from various radars with poor reliability to achieve more accurate object detection.


According to GM, it is possible to reduce 99% of the cost of LIDAR system by Strobe technology, and to develop a LIDAR system with realistic price to make automated driving cars practical. Eleven technicians who are full-time strobe will join GM's automated driving car development department.


"The acquisition of Strobe by GM will be a game changer in an automated driving car," said Kyle Bogg, CEO of GM's cruise automation division, stating that it will cut not only cost reduction but also time to market It shows.

As an American car maker, along with Ford, Officially announced that GM aims to sell automatic driving cars by 2021, it has been officially announced that it is said that GM acquired a significant advantage in terms of development of the LIDAR unit due to the acquisition of Strobe.