Swedish automotive technology company Veoneer has signed an agreement with Australian LiDAR company Baraja to industrialise its Spectrum-Scan LiDAR technology as a means of reaching Level 4 autonomy.
Veoneer says it chose to partner with Baraja after extensive testing, as Baraja offers “robust technology and a roadmap that lends itself to be amongst the smallest size lidars to enable vehicle integration”.
Sydney-based Baraja was founded in 2016 by telecommunications engineers Federico Collarte and Cibby Pulikkaseril who developed a way to use the proven optical fibre and photonics technology to solve legacy LiDAR problems.
Instead of relying on fragile moving parts and oscillating mirrors, it uses dispersive optics to scan the environment, significantly improving reliability and robustness compared to traditional Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) or spinning LiDAR.
Baraja’s Spectrum-Scan LiDAR creates high-resolution “pointclouds” to accurately detect objects at more than 250 meters away at speed, while remaining immune to interference from other sensors or light sources. The technology is also more tolerant to factors that have hindered traditional LiDAR systems such as heat, shock and vibration. Baraja has tested its LiDAR in the harshest conditions, from the Australian outback to arctic tundra, to ensure it works in any condition.
This technology will be complimented with Veoneer’s industry experience in developing automotive grade sensing solutions for driver assistance and autonomy applications.
Jan Carlson, Chairman, President and CEO of Veoneer, says, “Veoneer is committed to offering safe, robust, high-quality sensor solutions to vehicle manufacturers globally. We have performed extensive research among 70 LiDAR technology companies globally, and have come to the conclusion that by partnering with Baraja, Veoneer will be able to offer and integrate scalable automotive-grade LiDAR-sensors in future cars, at competitive prices.”
Federico Collarte, Founder & CEO of Baraja, adds, “Veoneer is a natural partner for us. We built our technology to enable autonomous driving that is safer, more accessible and ready today for the next generation of vehicles. By combining our technology with Veoneer’s vast experience in automotive design and platform integration, this partnership helps ensure the world’s leading automotive brands can bring that autonomous reality to more people.”
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