TriLumina Showcasing 256-Pixel 3D Solid-State LiDAR System For Self-Driving Vehicles At CES 2017

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The Sandia National Laboratories spinoff TriLumina will be showcasing its 256-pixel, 3D LiDAR system solution for use in self-driving vehicle tech — in collaboration with LeddarTech — at the upcoming CES 2017 show in January, according to a new press release from the company.

The system to be demonstrated uses TriLumina’s laser illumination module in conjunction with LeddarTech’s LeddarCore ICs.

The CEO of TriLumina, Brian Wong, commented: “At TriLumina, we are building complete Illumination modules with our patented, back-emitting, flip-chip VCSEL arrays and driver circuits to provide the highest efficiency and most powerful illumination solutions available. The 3D solid-state LiDAR solutions presented at CES will demonstrate the incredible capabilities of our laser solutions and how they can be rapidly deployed to enable new signal processing capabilities such as those in the LeddarCore ICs.”

The reason that this is news is that TriLumina’s illumination modules could potentially replace the bulky, expensive scanning LiDAR systems commonly used today in self-driving vehicle pilots. (For an idea of what I’m talking about, take a look at the new Waymo/Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid test vans.)

While nothing is certain yet, the potential seems to be there to greatly reduce the cost of the sort of powerful LiDAR systems necessary for certain self-driving systems (note that some approaches, such as Tesla’s, forgo the use of LiDAR completely).

For some related stories, see: “LiDAR-On-A-Chip” — Fun & Potentially Powerful Project Of MIT Researchers and Tesla & Google Disagree About LIDAR — Which Is Right?


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James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

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