General Motors Snaps up LiDAR Tech Company

US auto giant General Motors has hit the accelerator on its driverless car project by acquiring LiDAR startup company Strobe. The move makes them a part of GM’s own driverless car startup, Cruise, with Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt stating it will help reduce the cost of LiDAR by nearly 100%.

LiDAR is currently among the costliest components for driverless cars, and what sets the Strobe solution apart is that it reduces the entire LiDAR array down to just one chip. Vogt says reducing both the complexity and cost of LiDAR will be key to driverless car development. “Strobe’s LiDAR technology will significantly improve the cost and capabilities of our vehicles so that we can quickly accomplish our mission to deploy driverless vehicles at scale,” Vogt says.

The high cost that has been associated with LiDAR has created a few sceptics in the race for fully autonomous cars – most notably Tesla’s Elon Musk. Instead, Tesla has relied primarily on cameras and artificial intelligence in pursuing its semi-autonomous system, Autopilot.

“The successful deployment of self-driving vehicles will be highly dependent on the availability of LiDAR sensors,” says Julie Schoenfeld, Founder and CEO of Strobe. “Strobe’s engineering and technology backed by numerous patents will play a significant role in helping GM and Cruise bring these vehicles to market sooner than many think.”

In September, Cruise Automation unveiled the world’s first mass-producible car designed with what the company calls the redundancy and safety requirements necessary to operate without a driver. The vehicle will join Cruise’s testing fleets across the United States.