The race to develop self-driving cars led to a gold rush for lidar makers, many of which went public in the past couple of years.
However, their valuations have since plummeted as investors grew disillusioned with autonomous vehicle technology.from fully autonomous driving to partially automated driver-assistance technology, which they're already selling.Even if self-driving cars never go mainstream, there's still plenty of lidar sensor demand for use in driver-assist features, and in other fields of robotics.Lidar sensors use invisible lasers to create highly detailed 3D maps of their surroundings.
They work alongside other sensors — such as cameras, radar and ultrasonics — to help vehicles "see" their surroundings.In a changing landscape, Ouster and Velodyne concluded they would be stronger together.
Lidar will be crucial for the transition to smart cities.