Delphi partners with Innoviz Technologies on ‘high-performance’ lidar solutions for autonomous vehicles

Delphi Automotive has signed a commercial partnership agreement with Innoviz Technologies, a developer of lidar technology for the mass commercialization of autonomous vehicles.

Lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging, is a laser-based mapping system which is expected to play a big part in future vehicles. Currently, lidar is used in such technologies as speed guns and spacecraft.

Innoviz’s proprietary lidar sensing solutions will be integrated into Delphi’s systems to provide automakers with what the companies say will be “a comprehensive portfolio of autonomous driving technologies”. 

Innoviz lidar technology utilizes a solid-state design which it claims provides longer-range scanning performance and superior object detection and accuracy capabilities.

Long-range lidar is said to be critical for enabling Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous vehicles to travel at high speeds, as these vehicles will need to identify objects at far distances and in great detail in order to operate safely.

Glen De Vos, Delphi Automotive senior vice president and chief technology officer, says: “Along with radar and vision technology, lidar is an essential component to Delphi’s automated driving perception suite.

“Innoviz is developing a product that provides a high performance intelligent sensing solution to help advance automated driving technology.”

Omer Keilaf, co-founder and CEO of Innoviz, says: “Delphi shares our vision for making vehicles smarter and safer.

“By challenging the conventions of LiDAR design, we were able to develop a lidar solution that delivers superior performance at a reasonable price and in a much smaller footprint – three factors that are required to help autonomous driving achieve mass commercialization.”