Luminar
is
shipping
out
orders
of
its
lidar
sensors
to
Volvo
as
the
automaker
is
preparing
to
start
production
of
its
EX90
electric
vehicles,
the
company
said
today.
Volvo
will
use
the
laser
sensor
to
enable
safety
and
self-driving
features
in
the
EX90,
making
it
the
“first
global
consumer
vehicle
to
standardize
this
technology,”
Luminar
notes
in
a
press
release.
The
news
comes
during
a
“Luminar
Day”
webcast,
where
the
company
is
also
announcing
a
new
next-generation
“Halo”
lidar
sensor
—
one
that’s
designed
for
mainstream
adoption,
including
in
affordable
vehicles,
at
half
the
cost
of
its
current
system.
The
order
of
lidar
sensors
to
Volvo,
which
Luminar
notes
is
worth
$4
billion,
comes
after
Volvo
announced
last
year
that
it
had
to
push
production
start
of
the
EX90
to
early
2024.
At
the
time,
the
automaker
cited
the
need
for
further
“software
testing
and
development.”
At
the
time,
Luminar
stated
Volvo’s
delay
was
unrelated
to
its
sensors.
Luminar’s
lidar
tech
sits
on
top
of
the
vehicle
like
a
visor
and
uses
lasers
to
create
a
3D
environment
around
it.
The
placement
allows
the
sensor
to
sort
of
blend
into
the
roofline;
however,
the
company’s
current
“Iris”
sensors
are
still
a
bit
obvious
when
looking
at
its
partner
vehicles
like
the
EX90
and
new
Mercedes
Benz
racing
vehicles.
With
Luminar’s
new
Halo
sensor,
the
company
is
shrinking
the
overall
size
of
the
unit
so
it
adds
less
than
one
inch
of
height
to
the
roof
of
cars,
weighs
under
one
kilogram,
and
only
uses
about
10
watts
of
power.
Halo
will
use
four
next-generation
chips
from
Luminar
Semiconductor
Inc.,
which
it
says
will
enable
four
times
performance
improvements,
three
times
the
reduction
in
size,
and
twice
the
thermal
efficiency
compared
to
Iris.
Luminar
is
moving
forward
with
1550nm
lidars,
stating
it
wants
to
“avoid
future
performance
and
power
consumption
issues
associated
with
905nm.”
Luminar
says
it
is
also
continuing
safety
testing
and
validation
of
its
lidar
technology.
The
company
worked
with
Swiss
Re
to
measure
how
lidar
can
reduce
the
severity
of
accidents
and
found
that
its
tech
resulted
in
about
27
percent
reduction
in
accidents
and
about
40
percent
reduction
in
severity
compared
to
the
top-performing
vehicles
with
camera
and
radar-based
systems.
Luminar
is
also
partnering
with
physics
simulator
software
company
Applied
Institution
to
conduct
virtual
testing
and
validation
of
collected
lidar
data,
which
can
reduce
validation
costs
compared
to
real-world
testing.
Original author: Umar Shakir
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