How Far Should LiDAR “See”?

Recently, the race to present a long detection range system in the automotive LiDAR industry has heated up. Velodyne boasted the detection ranges of a 10% reflective target from 50m achieved by the veteran <a href="https://hypertech.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/HDL-64E-Data-Sheet.pdf" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">HDL-64E</a> to 265m by the recent <a href="https://velodynelidar.com/products/alpha-prime/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Alpha Prime</a>. At the same time, Luminar is promising to detect <a href="https://www.luminartech.com/products/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">10% reflective objects at 250m</a> with the Iris system. Moreover, Argo AI’s LiDAR system is designed to detect <a href="https://www.argo.ai/company-news/breakthrough-new-lidar-technology-gives-argo-ai-the-edge-in-autonomous-delivery-and-ride-hail-services/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">“dark objects” at 400m</a>. Yet, arguably, the current record is held by AEye’s “iDAR” that can detect two vehicles at a remarkable distance of 1000m, as detailed in VSI labs’ <a href="https://www.aeye.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AEye-iDAR-Validation-Test-Report-March-2021.pdf" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">test report</a>. <a href="https://medium.com/self-driving-cars/how-far-should-a-lidar-see-866b9debac7f">Read More</a>