This gallery appeared in Electronic Design and has been published here with permission.
Check out more of our CES 2023 coverage.
LiDAR (light detection and ranging) is a remote-sensing technology that uses laser pulses to measure the distance to an object or surface. It’s a type of active sensing, meaning that the device emits its own energy and then records the reflections of the energy off of an object or surface.
The technology is prominent in various applications, including topographic mapping, mobile mapping, and vehicle navigation. At CES 2023, many companies showcased their latest LiDAR innovations, including those for autonomous vehicles, home automation, augmented reality, drones, and more.
The latest LiDAR technologies have advanced to the point where they can be incorporated into a wide range of products. This includes smaller, more affordable devices for consumers and larger, more expensive ones for commercial applications.
Among the applications on display at CES were LiDAR-equipped robots for construction, surveillance, and medical tasks. There also were LiDAR-enabled cameras that provide 360-degree views.
Some of those systems combined infrared and laser scanning to create an incredibly detailed three-dimensional image of an environment. This data can then be used to enable autonomous vehicles to detect obstacles, pedestrians, and other hazards on the road. In addition, these technologies could be used to create highly accurate 3D maps for use in augmented-reality applications. The possibilities are endless and could revolutionize how we interact with our environment.
In this roundup, we’ll look at some of the latest LiDAR technologies expected to debut in 2023.