More than 1.3 million people are killed in road accidents every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Seeing this, many governments have started promoting the usage of vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Such moves have picked pace especially since the realization that most of the road crashes are a result of human errors, such as driving at more than the mandated speed limit, talking on the phone or sleeping while driving, cutting tight corners, jumping red lights, and driving too close to the automobile in front.
This is why P&S Intelligence predicts that the automotive LiDAR market value will increase to $14,754.7 million by 2030 from $289.3 million in 2019, at a high 26.1% CAGR during 2020–2030. This is because the light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology is used by numerous safety systems now being integrated into automobiles, such as adaptive cruise control (ACC), blind spot detection (BSD), automatic emergency braking (AEB), and lane keeping assistance system (LKAS).
Among these, the usage of LiDAR sensors is increasing swiftly in AEB systems, as they help prevent accidents by warning drivers if they get too close to the vehicle in front. The electronic control module of the system measures the pressure on the throttle (accelerator) to ascertain whether it is pressed or not. If the vehicle comes too close to the one in front and if the driver hasn’t yet stepped off the gas, it applies the brakes automatically. Thus, even if the AEB system cannot prevent the accident, it considerably reduces the severity of the crash.
With time, such systems are not being integrated just for higher safety, but to help the vehicle drivewithout human involvement. Thus, another key growth driver for the automotive LiDAR market is the rising requirement for autonomous vehicles. Automobile autonomy is rated from level 0 to 5 depending on what degree of human control is required to drive them. Presently, level 1–3 autonomous vehicles are common on the roads, while level 4 and 5 variants are still under development and extensive testing, mostly in Europe and North America.
Therefore, as autonomous vehicles have many more such advanced systems compared to human-driven ones, their rising sales would definitely propel the procurement of LiDAR sensors by automakers. Additionally, to make vehicles even safer and advanced, auto component makers are raising heavy funding for research and development (R&D) and mass production. For instance, Luminar Technologies Inc. raised $100 million from Moore Strategic Ventures LLC, G2VP LLC, and The Westly Group in July 2019. With the funding, it developed Iris, a new LiDAR platform, for autonomous trucks.
Presently, Europe is generating the highest demand for LiDAR sensors and LiDAR-based systems because of the strict mandates of the European Union (EU) regarding road safety. The EU has made the integration of AEB, intelligent speed assistance, and emergency stop signal systems a mandate in all commercial and passenger vehicles in member countries. Moreover, regional automakers, including Volkswagen and BMW, are undertaking extensive R&D on autonomous driving systems. In addition, several European countries have allowed the testing of fully autonomous vehicles in controlled environments.
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