目前，激光雷達(dá)市場(chǎng)正處于高速發(fā)展之中，市場(chǎng)規(guī)?？蛇_(dá)數(shù)萬(wàn)億美元。盡管，這個(gè)市場(chǎng)中有超過(guò)100家競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手都在虎視眈眈，但行業(yè)領(lǐng)袖 Velodyne 公司總裁Mike Jellen 并不打算將領(lǐng)先優(yōu)勢(shì)拱手讓人。
如果談起“激光雷達(dá)”，你腦海中浮現(xiàn)的第一家公司是哪家？可能很多人的第一反應(yīng)都是Velodyne，畢竟這家硅谷公司的開(kāi)創(chuàng)性激光雷達(dá) HDL-64（64 通道、360° 視場(chǎng)）在 2007年 DARPA 無(wú)人駕駛汽車城市挑戰(zhàn)賽中“一戰(zhàn)成名”的表現(xiàn)太過(guò)讓人印象深刻。如今，Velodyne 繼續(xù)致力于 3D 激光探測(cè)與測(cè)距傳感器的研發(fā)，目前有 7 款激光雷達(dá)傳感器產(chǎn)品已正式上市，抵達(dá)成百上千家移動(dòng)出行行業(yè)客戶，進(jìn)行測(cè)試或有限商用。目前，Velodyne 公司圣何塞工廠的年產(chǎn)量已達(dá)數(shù)萬(wàn)臺(tái)，但相比于未來(lái)市場(chǎng)對(duì)激光雷達(dá)產(chǎn)品的巨大需求，這仍然只不過(guò)是滄海一粟。
“通過(guò)一段時(shí)間的密集車隊(duì)測(cè)試，我們現(xiàn)在正在快速擴(kuò)大汽車級(jí)激光雷達(dá)產(chǎn)品的量產(chǎn)規(guī)模，同時(shí)面向零售型 ADAS 系統(tǒng)和按需提供式移動(dòng)出行服務(wù)車隊(duì)。”Velodyne 公司激光雷達(dá)業(yè)務(wù)總裁、首席商業(yè)官 Mike Jellen 解釋道，“目前，我們的產(chǎn)品大多供應(yīng)給 SAE 4 級(jí)自動(dòng)駕駛車輛，主要用于研發(fā)。然而，ADAS 安全系統(tǒng)也將在未來(lái)的新車活動(dòng)中占據(jù)一定比例。我們認(rèn)為，激光雷達(dá)產(chǎn)品的銷量將在 2019 到 2025 年間實(shí)現(xiàn)持續(xù)增長(zhǎng)。”
對(duì) Velodyne 而言，雖然激光雷達(dá)的高清 3D 繪圖能力也可以為公司創(chuàng)造收益，但自主和自動(dòng)駕駛汽車仍是激光雷達(dá)產(chǎn)品的主要市場(chǎng)，一個(gè)價(jià)值數(shù)萬(wàn)億美元的龐大市場(chǎng)。”Jellen 告訴SAE《自動(dòng)駕駛汽車工程》雜志，“我們預(yù)計(jì)，世界上將有十億汽車裝配激光雷達(dá)，平均每輛車安裝 2 到 4 部，也就是說(shuō)每輛車在傳感器方面的成本在 1,000 美元左右，那整個(gè)市場(chǎng)的規(guī)模可以輕松達(dá)到數(shù)萬(wàn)億美元。”
事實(shí)上，Velodyne 的估計(jì)還算保守。Aptiv 公司已經(jīng)在自己一款基于 BMW 的自動(dòng)駕駛技術(shù)演示車上安裝了 9 部激光雷達(dá)。
為了為即將到來(lái)的淘金熱做好準(zhǔn)備，Velodyne 一直在穩(wěn)步擴(kuò)充公司的研發(fā)、科學(xué)和技術(shù)力量。作為一家2006 年成立的公司，目前，Velodyne 在全球共有 5 個(gè)工廠和超過(guò) 500 名全職員工。
目前，Velodyne 已經(jīng)拿到了多家投資者的投資，其中最引人注目的投資方包括美國(guó)福特（Ford）和中國(guó)百度公司。此外，Velodyne 與梅賽德斯奔馳（Mercedes）也有合作。
這家公司的核心知識(shí)產(chǎn)品資產(chǎn)包括嵌入式軟件和算法、探測(cè)器及 ASIC（專為移動(dòng)出行級(jí)激光雷達(dá)定制的專用集成電路）技術(shù)。值得一提的是，Velodyne 公司的這些知識(shí)產(chǎn)品資產(chǎn)全部由公司內(nèi)部研發(fā)。
提高分辨率、降低成本
2018 年 CES 拉斯維加斯消費(fèi)電子展中，大量創(chuàng)新激光雷達(dá)產(chǎn)品都大放異彩，而且很多已經(jīng)進(jìn)入客戶評(píng)估階段，其中就包括Velodyne 公司的最新 VLS-128 激光雷達(dá)產(chǎn)品。Velodyne 公司激光雷達(dá)業(yè)務(wù)總裁 Jellen 稱 VLS-128 為“世界上最好的激光雷達(dá)傳感器”，這款產(chǎn)品現(xiàn)已從公司曾在 DARPA 挑戰(zhàn)賽中“一戰(zhàn)成名”的經(jīng)典 HDL-64 激光雷達(dá)中接過(guò)大旗，登陸了多家廠商的自動(dòng)駕駛原型車。據(jù)了解，VLS-128相較其之前型號(hào)，體積和重量均小了三分之一，激光通道數(shù)量卻增加了一倍，視場(chǎng)仍然為 360 度，據(jù)稱可以提供比之前高 10 倍的分辨率，物體識(shí)別和探測(cè)性能都有了顯著改善。
Velodyne 公司稱，VLS-128的探測(cè)距離高達(dá) 300 米（984 英尺），可直接用于車輛的目標(biāo)探測(cè)，無(wú)需搭配額外的傳感器。此外，該產(chǎn)品專為自動(dòng)組裝而設(shè)計(jì)，采用了專有的激光對(duì)準(zhǔn)工藝。
除了 VLS-128之外，Velodyne 公司還推出了一款探測(cè)距離在 200 米（656 英尺）的固定式激光傳感器 Velarray。作為一款外形緊湊的激光雷達(dá)產(chǎn)品，Velarray 在汽車車身中的無(wú)縫集成將更加容易，同時(shí)適用于一些具備 ADAS 功能的 SAE 2 級(jí)部分自動(dòng)駕駛汽車，以及 SAE 4 級(jí)或 SAE 5 級(jí)全自動(dòng)駕駛汽車。除了顯著的集成優(yōu)勢(shì)，Velarray 的價(jià)格也同樣具有吸引力，僅為“數(shù)百美元”。
Jellen 表示，公司還在同時(shí)研發(fā)將激光雷達(dá)與其他類型的傳感器（包括攝像頭）集成在一起的“集成傳感陣列”，同時(shí)迎合終端用戶的直接使用需求和其他公司的內(nèi)部研發(fā)需求。
Velodyne 計(jì)劃采用分布式全球生產(chǎn)戰(zhàn)略，公司的生產(chǎn)設(shè)施分布在北美、中國(guó)和歐洲等地區(qū)，可直接支持當(dāng)?shù)乜蛻舻男枨螅⑻峁┒嗫钇嚰す饫走_(dá)產(chǎn)品，滿足不同市場(chǎng)的多樣化使用場(chǎng)景。
“在全自動(dòng)駕駛汽車方面，一些行業(yè)巨頭肯定會(huì)先自己來(lái)做整合工作，其他公司則更有可能通過(guò)一些一級(jí)供應(yīng)商合作伙伴，獲得 Velodyne 的支持。”Jellen 表示，“對(duì)于 ADAS 安全市場(chǎng)，我們可以通過(guò)一級(jí)供應(yīng)商合作伙伴提供支持，也可以直接提供面向終端用戶的完整解決方案。因此，我們將采用一種一級(jí)/二級(jí)供應(yīng)商混合交叉合作的策略，如今的情況就是這樣。“
SAE 4級(jí)自動(dòng)駕駛汽車市場(chǎng)：普及率將達(dá)到 100%
目前，激光雷達(dá)市場(chǎng)正處于高速發(fā)展之中，市場(chǎng)規(guī)?？蛇_(dá)數(shù)萬(wàn)億美元，Velodyne 占據(jù)絕對(duì)優(yōu)勢(shì)。但與此同時(shí)，該市場(chǎng)中還有超過(guò)100 家蠢蠢欲動(dòng)地競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手，其中也包括一些 Velodyne 前員工創(chuàng)立的公司。在這樣一個(gè)高速增長(zhǎng)的市場(chǎng)中，這種“摘櫻桃”（Cherry-picking）現(xiàn)象非常常見(jiàn)。
“這是一個(gè)潛力巨大的行業(yè)，一定會(huì)有大量公司前仆后繼地沖入這個(gè)領(lǐng)域，這并不令人驚奇。”Jellen表示，“不同公司在不同時(shí)段會(huì)采用不同的解決方案，盡管其中有些可能已經(jīng)有 30 年或 40 年的歷史了。其中，一些公司正在借激光雷達(dá)的東風(fēng)進(jìn)行炒作，并希望從大量流入該領(lǐng)域的資金中分一杯羹。”
自動(dòng)駕駛汽車工程師普遍認(rèn)為，激光雷達(dá)對(duì)于 SAE 4 級(jí)和 5 級(jí)全自動(dòng)駕駛汽車絕對(duì)必不可少，在 SAE 3 級(jí)自動(dòng)駕駛汽車中也具有很高的價(jià)值。激光雷達(dá)可以利用脈沖激光測(cè)量動(dòng)態(tài)距離，創(chuàng)建并更新 3D 地圖，讓 3 厘米級(jí)別的車輛定位成為可能，還可以作為一種安全失效冗余系統(tǒng)。
高清地圖允許車載處理器“不間斷地進(jìn)行比較，感知固定和移動(dòng)物體的位置，并獲得車輛在空間中的確切位置，無(wú)關(guān)于車輛的 GPS 或 IMU 慣性測(cè)量單元的性能。”Jellen 表示“這極大地簡(jiǎn)化了車輛的實(shí)時(shí)感知挑戰(zhàn)。”
Jellen 是一名電氣和軟件工程師，他在 2015 年加入 Velodyne 公司，擁有 20 年的機(jī)器人和自動(dòng)化行業(yè)經(jīng)驗(yàn)。Jellen 認(rèn)為，激光雷達(dá)的真正商業(yè)應(yīng)用將首先出現(xiàn)在自動(dòng)駕駛穿梭巴士等在地理圍欄中行駛的運(yùn)輸車輛。目前，試點(diǎn)車隊(duì)的測(cè)試正在順利進(jìn)行中。
Jellen 表示，“未來(lái)，Navya、EsayMile 和百度Apollo （最近剛剛在中國(guó)公布的穿梭巴士項(xiàng)目）等自動(dòng)駕駛穿梭大巴公司將繼續(xù)取得季度增長(zhǎng)。”
Jellen 預(yù)計(jì)，在零售汽車市場(chǎng)中，激光雷達(dá)在 SAE 4 級(jí)自動(dòng)駕駛汽車中將逐步實(shí)現(xiàn) 100% 的普及。他斷言，“我認(rèn)為，除了激光雷達(dá)，沒(méi)有其他任何類型的傳感器可以滿足 SAE 4 級(jí)自動(dòng)駕駛汽車的需求。”此外，一些提供“真正 SAE 3 級(jí)自動(dòng)駕駛系統(tǒng)”（即高速公路下的放手/放松系統(tǒng)）的公司也開(kāi)始為旗下產(chǎn)品增加激光雷達(dá)系統(tǒng)，從而提供一些 SAE 4 級(jí)自動(dòng)駕駛功能，而不是依賴于駕駛員充當(dāng)系統(tǒng)的“后備隊(duì)員”。
成本、尺寸、功耗
目前，激光雷達(dá)市場(chǎng)中的初創(chuàng)公司數(shù)量正在以爆發(fā)性速度增長(zhǎng)，通?？梢园凑仗囟ǖ膫鞲衅黝愋蛯?duì)相關(guān)公司進(jìn)行分類，例如固態(tài)激光雷達(dá)公司。Jellen 表示，除了現(xiàn)有產(chǎn)品外，公司還在研究數(shù)十種采用不同激光光束控制方法（包括固態(tài)傳感器）和不同視場(chǎng)范圍的激光雷達(dá)產(chǎn)品，從而更好地滿足不同使用場(chǎng)景的要求。Jellen 解釋到，“我們希望為特定應(yīng)用場(chǎng)景選擇最合適地特定產(chǎn)品。”
通常來(lái)說(shuō)，激光雷達(dá)的視場(chǎng)范圍可以分為兩類：窄視場(chǎng)和寬視場(chǎng)。窄視場(chǎng)激光雷達(dá)的視場(chǎng)范圍通常為 120 度或更小；寬視場(chǎng)激光雷達(dá)的視場(chǎng)則為 180° 或更大。 對(duì)于車輛安裝的固定式傳感器來(lái)說(shuō)，清晰、寬廣的180 度視線范圍有助于車輛應(yīng)對(duì)一些更令人生畏的駕駛場(chǎng)景，例如在高速接近丁字路口時(shí)，及時(shí)識(shí)別道路中的黑色輪胎碎片。
車輛研發(fā)工程師告訴《自動(dòng)駕駛汽車工程》，2018 年，降低單位成本和提升包裝效率（將激光雷達(dá)“無(wú)痕”集成至車輛外殼內(nèi)）是激光雷達(dá)領(lǐng)域需要解決的兩大挑戰(zhàn)。Jellen 表示，提高激光雷達(dá)的成本效益離不開(kāi)兩件事：提高產(chǎn)量、借助 ASIC 技術(shù)。目前，Velodyne 公司的“基本款”16 通道 VLP-16 Puck 激光雷達(dá)的探測(cè)距離為 100 米，2018 年的小批量訂單價(jià)格約為 4,000 美元，而且可以為采購(gòu)量大的汽車用戶提供更有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力的價(jià)格，而較早型號(hào) HDL-64 的售價(jià)則高達(dá) 70,000 美元。
Jellen 預(yù)計(jì)，車輛安裝 4 部激光雷達(dá)的成本大約在 1,000 美元，這實(shí)際反映了 Velodyne 公司激進(jìn)的降低成本計(jì)劃。事實(shí)上，除了提升產(chǎn)品性能、提高封裝效率外，Velarray 傳感器（采用 ASIC 技術(shù)）的另一項(xiàng)主要任務(wù)就是降低成本。第一代 Velarray 激光雷達(dá)的尺寸為 125 x 50 x 55 mm（大約 5 x 2 x 2 英寸），對(duì)于 OEM 設(shè)計(jì)師和車輛集成團(tuán)隊(duì)來(lái)說(shuō)，將這種尺寸的激光雷達(dá)集成至車輛外殼種會(huì)更容易。
一位車身結(jié)構(gòu)工程師告訴《自動(dòng)駕駛汽車工程》：“郵政車或自動(dòng)駕駛出租車完全可以將激光雷達(dá)封裝在車身四周的突起中，但私家車卻不行。”Jellen 解釋說(shuō)，“傳感器安裝地越高，你的視線就更高、可靠性也更高。對(duì)于一些具備自動(dòng)緊急制動(dòng)和 SAE 2 級(jí)以上自動(dòng)駕駛功能的零售車輛來(lái)說(shuō)，可以考慮將傳感器安裝在車輛保險(xiǎn)杠中。”
但是，為了實(shí)現(xiàn)真正的 SAE 3 級(jí)自動(dòng)駕駛功能（放手/放松駕駛，也就是駕駛員既不需要操作，也不需要操心），“你必須把傳感器至少安裝在駕駛員視線的高度才能讓傳感器有效‘觀察’周邊環(huán)境。”
Velodyne 的 ASIC 技術(shù)還有助工程師更好地管理“耗電大戶 ADAS 傳感器陣列”。“ASIC技術(shù)可以實(shí)現(xiàn)實(shí)時(shí)邏輯與‘智能’，且功耗非常低。”Jellen 解釋道，“未來(lái)，Velodyne 的傳感器將變得更加智能化，可以分擔(dān)如今自動(dòng)駕駛汽車主機(jī)系統(tǒng)的部分工作。我們都知道，主機(jī)系統(tǒng)的耗電量一直很大，如果我們的傳感器可以分擔(dān)部分工作，則主機(jī)的功耗也能降下來(lái)一些。”
為了實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)，Jellen 稱 Velodyne激光雷達(dá)可以實(shí)現(xiàn)“同時(shí)定位與制圖”且耗電量甚至不到 1 瓦。介紹一下，“同時(shí)定位和制圖”是指?jìng)鞲衅髟诟兄苓叚h(huán)境時(shí)，同時(shí)將周邊環(huán)境的結(jié)構(gòu)繪制下來(lái)，這時(shí)一項(xiàng)非常了不起的成就。
Jellen 表示，“這有助于降低功耗，及集成復(fù)雜系統(tǒng)的成本。很顯然，這非常符合行業(yè)的要求和目標(biāo)。”
關(guān)鍵任務(wù)技術(shù)
目前，為了在公司快速增長(zhǎng)的團(tuán)隊(duì)中增加研發(fā)力量，Velodyne 正在積極開(kāi)展校園招聘和社會(huì)招聘活動(dòng)。Jellen 表示，“我們正在尋找各個(gè)領(lǐng)域中的優(yōu)秀工程師，包括電子電氣、嵌入式軟件、光學(xué)工程、包裝和質(zhì)量等。”他同時(shí)承認(rèn)，3D 激光雷達(dá)是一個(gè)非常新的專業(yè)，因此“我們也在尋找一些具有激光和光學(xué)行業(yè)經(jīng)驗(yàn)的人才。”
隨著 Velodyne 公司不斷發(fā)展，公司管理層認(rèn)為，保持公司創(chuàng)始人David Hall 不斷創(chuàng)新的企業(yè)家精神和靈活機(jī)動(dòng)的公司戰(zhàn)略非常重要。當(dāng)然，說(shuō)起來(lái)總比做起來(lái)容易。
“據(jù)報(bào)道稱，美國(guó)每 5 秒中就發(fā)生一起車禍，中國(guó)每天有 500 人在車禍中喪生，這太瘋狂了。”Jellen 表示，“我們必須團(tuán)結(jié)一致，盡快讓傳感器在新車中發(fā)揮作用，讓這項(xiàng)可以挽救生命的技術(shù)盡快造福于大眾。”
100 competitors want to eat his lunch, but Velodyne president Mike Jellen aims to maintain leadership in this fast-moving, trillion-dollar technology space.
In a word-association game that begins with “lidar companies,” the first response is likely to be “Velodyne.” The Silicon Valley-based pioneer in 3D light-detection-and-ranging sensors, whose groundbreaking 64-laser, 360° field-of-view technology famously helped win the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge for self-driving vehicles, is currently shipping seven sensor models to hundreds of mobility-industry customers for testing and for limited commercial use. The annual production rate from the company’s San Jose plant today, in tens-of-thousands of units, is just the tip of an impending tidal wave.
“We’re moving fast through a period of intense fleet testing into the initial ramp-ups for true auto-motive-scale, high-volume production—both for the retail ADAS as well as for on-demand mobility fleets,” explains Mike Jellen, Velodyne Lidar’s president and chief commercial officer. “Most current volume goes into [SAE] Level 4 developments. A significant portion of new-vehicle activity is on ADAS safety systems. We see an opportunity for sustained unit-volume growth occurring 2019 through 2025.”
While lidar’s high-definition 3D mapping capability represents a separate market for Velodyne, automated and autonomous vehicles (AVs) remain “the dominant force—a trillion-dollar market opportunity,” Jellen tells SAE’s Autonomous Vehicle Engineering. “We’d like each of the billion vehicles on the world’s roads to have two to four lidar sensors—maybe $1000 of sensors per vehicle—and see the trillion-dollar opportunity emerge.”
OEMs may bring suppliers even greater delight: Aptiv uses nine lidar units in its BMW-based AV demonstration vehicle.
To prepare for the gold rush, Velodyne Lidar has been steadily growing its engineering, scientific and technical resources. The company, founded by CEO David Hall in 2006 (see sidebar), now has over 500 full-time employees at five facilities around the world.
Ford and Baidu are among its high-profile investors, and the company also has a cooperation with Mercedes.
Velodyne’s core IP portfolio includes embedded software and algorithms, and detectors, as well as ASICs—application-specific integrated circuits that are custom engineered for mobility lidars. All are strategically developed in-house.
Higher resolution, lower cost
The latest fruits of this focus debuted at the 2018 CES and have been in customer evaluation. The VLS-128, which Jellen anointed “the best lidar sensor on the planet,” succeeds the company’s classic DARPA-winning HDL-64 seen spinning atop many proto-type AVs. Nearly one-third smaller and lighter than its predecessor, with twice the lasers (channels), the VLS-128 is claimed to deliver ten times better resolution. This greatly improves object identification and detection within a 360° field of view (FOV).
Velodyne claims the new lidar, with range up to 300 m (984 ft) can be used directly for object detection without additional sensor fusion. It was designed for automated assembly that includes a proprietary laser-alignment process.
Also appearing was the Velarray, a fixed-laser, solid-state sensor with 200-m (656-ft) range. Designed with a compact form factor for more natural integration into vehicle bodywork of both ADAS-enabled SAE Level 2 automated-driving vehicles, as well as SAE Level 4 and 5 autonomous vehicles, the Velarray’s target price—“in the hundreds of dollars” at automotive scale—was equally big news.
And according to Jellen, development also is underway on integrated arrays that combine lidar and other sensor modalities including camera—“both in direct fulfillment efforts to customers as well as internal R&D.”
Velodyne plans a regional approach to global lidar production, with manufacturing facilities to serve customers directly in North America, China and Europe. A range of vehicle-integration models depends on the vehicle market and use case.
“On the full-AV side, the leading companies will have in-house integration efforts,” Jellen said. “Others will rely on Tier-1 partners, through whom Velodyne will support directly. For the ADAS safety market, Velodyne will support both through Tier 1 partners as well as through direct full solutions. Therefore, we plan on a Tier 1/Tier 2 mix, as is the case today.”
100% Level 4 market penetration
Occasionally dubbed “the 800-pound gorilla” of the mobility-lidar market, Velodyne currently sits atop a burgeoning technology space that, by some counts, includes nearly 100 players of varying strengths and prospects. Some new competitors include ex-Velodyne staff—typical cherry-picking activity in a high-growth industry.
“Given the potential, it’s not surprising we see a large number of companies and approaches coming in to attempt to serve this vast opportunity,” he said. “Different companies are targeting different solutions at different times, though there has been a lot of repackaging of approaches that are 30, 40 years old. A number of these companies are taking advantage of the hype on lidar, and of the significant investment flowing into the space.”
AV engineers widely consider lidar to be an essential sensor (in combination with cameras and radars) for SAE Level 4 and 5 “full-autonomous” operation, and of high value in Level 3 automated driving. Employing a pulsed laser to measure variable distances, lidar is used for creating and updating 3D maps that enable real-time, 3-centimeter-level precision in vehicle location as well as providing fail-safe sensor redundancy.
The high-def maps allow the on-board processors to “continually compare and get a sense of static and dynamics and know exactly its position in space regardless of GPS or IMU [inertial measurement unit] performance,” Jellen said. “This greatly simplifies the real-time perception challenge.”
Jellen, an electrical and software engineer, joined Velodyne in 2015 with 20 years’ industry experience in robotics and automation. He expects the first major commercial lidar applications to be in autonomous shuttles and delivery vehicles running a geofenced route. Pilot-fleet use is well underway.
“You’ll continue to see quarter-over-quarter growth with [AV shuttle] companies such as Navya, EasyMile and Baidu Apollo,” whose new shuttle program in China was recently announced.
For the retail vehicle market, Jellen expects eventual 100% market penetration for lidar for SAE Level 4 driving. “I do not see another type of sensor that fills in for its capability,” he asserted. And companies choosing a “true Level 3” system—hands-off/mind-off highway operation—are including lidar to provide Level 4 functionality in that operating mode, rather than risk relying on the driver to be the backup.
Cost, size, power consumption
The explosion of lidar start-ups has tended to classify companies by a particular sensor approach, such as solid state. Velodyne is researching “dozens” of models beyond its current portfolio, Jellen said. The goal is to offer different beam-steering methodologies (including solid-state sensors), and both wide and narrow FOV types to serve various use cases. “The right tool with the right maturity for a given product line is how we do it,” he explained.
Narrow FOV is typically 120 degrees or less; wide is 180° or more. For one sensor placed on one location in the vehicle, being able to “see” a clear 180-degree sweep helps to solve some of the more daunting driving scenarios, such as identifying black tire-chunk debris in the road while approaching a ‘T’ intersection at speed.
Unit cost reduction and package efficiency—creating a form factor that can be integrated invisibly into a vehicle’s exterior skin—are the two greatest challenges related to lidar in 2018, vehicle development engineers tell AVE. According to Jellen, cost performance requires two things: volume, and ASICS. Velodyne’s “base” 16-channel unit, the VLP-16 Puck with 100-meter range, can be had for about $4000 for low-volume orders in 2018—far less than the $70,000 price tag of the old HDL-64 and has the ability to be priced competitively for high-volume automotive customers.
Jellen’s projection of $1000 for a four-unit vehicle array highlights Velodyne’s drive toward an aggressive unit-cost target, at volume. That is one of the missions, along with performance and package efficiency, of the new ASIC-enabled Velarray sensor. The first-gen Velarray unit measures 125 x 50 x 55 mm (roughly 5 x 2 x 2 in.), a dimension that OEM stylists and vehicle-integration teams will find easier to incorporate all around the vehicle.
“Having to package lidars inside aero-style blisters around the body may be acceptable for mail trucks or robo-taxis, but not for private vehicles,” a body-structures engineer tells AVE. Jellen explains that the challenge of perception is “you ‘see’ the environment much better, and with higher reliability, with a higher vertical sensor position within the vehicle. A retail vehicle that contemplates automatic emergency braking and limited Level 2-plus functionality may contemplate locating sensors in the bumpers.”
But in the quest for true Level 3 eyes-off, mind-off functionality, “you need the sensors to effectively ‘see’ at or above the human-eye [vertical height] level.”
Velodyne’s ASICs development also is helping engineers manage power-hungry ADAS sensor arrays. “They [ASICs] are enabling real-time logic and ‘intelligence’ at very low power consumption,” Jellen explained. “You’ll continue to see Velodyne sensors become more intelligent, with some ability to off-load the high-power host systems in the AVs today. As they off-load some of that responsibility, the power consumption required for the host will be reduced.”
Toward that goal, he cited demonstrations of ‘slamming’ within the Velodyne lidar using less than 1 watt of power. The term—simultaneous localization and mapping—refers to the algorithmic challenge of localizing (i.e. finding the position/orientation of) a sensor with respect to its surroundings, while simultaneously mapping the structure of that environment. A noteworthy achievement.
“It helps reduce power consumption and the integration costs of complex systems, which are clearly targets set by the industry,” Jellen said.
Mission-critical tech
Adding engineering muscle to the fast-expanding team, Velodyne has ongoing recruiting efforts at the major universities and within industry. “We’re looking for strong engineers across the various disciplines including electrical, embedded software, optical engineering, advanced packaging, and quality,” Jellen reports. The real 3D lidar discipline, he admits, is a fairly new space, “so we look for people with experience in the laser and optical industries.”
And as Velodyne diversifies, its leadership realizes the importance of maintaining the entrepreneurial spirit and flexibility created by founder Hall. That, of course, can be easier said than done.
“There is a police-reported vehicle accident in the U.S. every five seconds; 500 people are lost per day in China. These are crazy statistics,” Jellen says. “We need sensors that deliver true functionality into new vehicles as quickly as possible. We’re united under the mission of bringing life-saving technology to the masses.”
Author: Lindsay Brooke
Source: SAE Autonomous Vehicle Engineering Magazine
Velodyne 公司最高端的 3D 激光雷達(dá)傳感器VLS-128 發(fā)布于 2018 年，專為自動(dòng)駕駛汽車設(shè)計(jì)，擁有128 個(gè)激光通道，可提供正負(fù) 0.1 度的水平/垂直分辨率，探測(cè)范圍 300 米，視場(chǎng)角度可達(dá) 360 度。圖為 VLS-128 生成的街景點(diǎn)云圖，速度達(dá)每秒 960 萬(wàn)點(diǎn)。
Velodyne 最新激光雷達(dá)產(chǎn)品的尺寸對(duì)比圖，從左到右分別為 VLS-128、32 通道的 Ultra Puck VLP-32C 及外形最為緊湊的固定式激光雷達(dá)陣列 Velarray。此外，在本期雜志封面上，Velodyne 公司激光雷達(dá)業(yè)務(wù)總裁 Mike Jellen 手中握著的正是一款 Velarray 。
對(duì)于商用自動(dòng)駕駛穿梭巴士（比如圖中來(lái)自 EasyShare 的EZ10）而言，激光雷達(dá)的集成“隱身”挑戰(zhàn)并不像私家車般顯著，但巴士運(yùn)營(yíng)商仍然希望激光雷達(dá)能夠無(wú)縫融入車輛，不影響其外觀。最近，法國(guó)自動(dòng)駕駛汽車制造商EasyShare 在美國(guó)加州的部分公共路段推出了自動(dòng)駕駛汽車穿梭巴士服務(wù)。
福特的 Fusion 自動(dòng)駕駛演示車將傳感器陣列安裝在車輛頂部?jī)蓚?cè)的“支架”上，并在車輛A 柱上安裝了 Velodyne 的 Ultra Puck 激光雷達(dá)。