Volvo Will Embed Lidar Sensor Technology in XC90 Electric SUV
The lidar sensor will be installed on the successor to the Volvo XC90 electric car. Photo/docAutomoto651 - Volvo Will Embed Lidar Sensor Technology in XC90 Electric SUV.
Volvo Cars plan to use a lidar sensor in the new generation XC90 SUV next year. This technology is part of a strategy to implement high safety in their autonomous vehicles.
As reported by the Autoblog page, Friday (6/25/2021), Volvo Cars' decision to include a lidar sensor is a crucial moment because very few electric cars use lidar sensors to reduce selling prices.
To meet the needs of Volvo's lidar technology will be supplied by Self-driving car sensor startup Luminar Technologies Inc.
Iris lidar and Sentinel software technology will be combined with software from Volvo in the XC90 electric SUV, which will be built in South Carolina and go on sale in 2022, the company said.
The design of the new technology is to cope with traffic situations that often result in severe accidents and lead to death. Over time, the technology will become more capable of preventing collisions, the company said.
"By having this hardware as standard, we can continue to improve safety features and introduce state-of-the-art autonomous driving systems," Volvo Cars Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement.
So far, lidar sensors are too expensive for the auto industry to implement in electric cars. Luminar CEO Austin Russell said the price for a lidar sensor unit is around US$1,000.
Volvo Cars Chief Technology Officer Henrik Green said cost was not the focus for the Swedish car brand. Technology prices will fall as sales volume grows.
Green says the following vehicle will add a lidar package as standard. This will continue Volvo Cars' history as the first to standardize many safety features, including three-point seat belts and side airbags.
"This is an important moment for the industry. You don't have an option for airbags. You don't have an option for seat belts. Why should you have an option for life-saving technology? (Lidar sensors)," he said.
In March, Luminar said it had reached an agreement with Volvo Cars' software unit, Zenseact, to provide a combined hardware-software system of autonomous features for Volvo vehicles. Luminar told at the time that the technology would also be sold to other automakers.
The system will aim to provide automatic drivers, but only on the highway, Luminar said. It will use a computing chipset from Nvidia Corp and also use Luminar's lidar cameras and radar sensors.
The technology also allows lidar sensors to work with the cameras and radar that many automakers have included in their vehicles.
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