US-based LightWare LiDAR is now shipping what it says is the smallest and lightest scanning lidar on the market.
The company specializes in the design and manufacture of sensors for autonomous vehicles and says it SF45 scanning micro-lidar weighs just 59g yet is capable of delivering the same performance of much larger sensors. The manufacturer states the unit is able to detect obstacles in bright sunlight at 50m.
“The SF45 democratizes machine perception, bringing vision, safety and practicality to even the smallest unmanned systems. Machines don’t have 3D perception, so they can’t make sense of unexpected obstacles. Our mission is to save the world’s machines one microlidar at a time,” explained Philip Constantine, CEO of LightWare.
“A key advantage of our sensors is that they are not cameras, and do not invade the privacy of the public. This is becoming more important as autonomous vehicles and other machines begin to work alongside people in their daily lives.”