RoboSense Reveals New Lidar for Self-Driving Cars at CES 2024

The lidar industry is hotting up – and Chinese company RoboSense presented its latest two offerings at CES.

The wraps came off the mid-range M2 sensor, as well as the M3, the first long-range lidar to be made available on the Shenzhen-based firm’s M Platform. 

The unveiling capped a busy period for RoboSense, which last week made the first initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong stock exchange this year. 

The M3 is designed to be used in vehicles delivering Level 3 automated driving as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers. This is the “hands off, eyes off tech” that is gradually coming to the market, having made its passenger car debut in the United States last year.

With RoboSense focused on delivering affordable solutions for customers, the M3 uses 940 nm wavelengths, rather than the 1550 nm lasers used by more expensive Lidar.

The M3 is said to be able to detect a 10% reflectivity target at 984 feet and work at up to 74 mph, with RoboSense claiming it achieves better performance than 1550 nm lidar despite being up to 70% cheaper, 50% smaller and consuming 30% less power.

Additionally, by using a modular design, RoboSense says future iterations will allow customers to upgrade seamlessly without any design changes to their vehicles, keeping costs down and continually improving performance.

Related:Mercedes ‘Hands off, Eyes off’ Driving Now Available in the US

The M2, meanwhile, is essentially a lower-cost iteration of the existing M1 and M1 Plus, and claimed to be able to detect a 10% reflectivity target at 656 feet.

The company hopes the M2 and M3 can bolster a customer portfolio that added Toyota last year, and as of December comprised 12 OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers.

“RoboSense’s deep technical expertise and achievements in mass manufacturing enable us to develop lidar that is higher performance, smaller, more power-efficient and more cost-effective,” said Mark Qiu, executive director and executive president. 

“By launching the M2 and M3, we are meeting our customers’ needs, enabling seamless upgrades to their intelligent driving systems and efficient product development. We believe our M2 and M3 products will allow us to accelerate the adoption of lidar for autonomous vehicles.”