Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 32

Q&
A
Three's not a crowd when it comes to
ADAS sensors
To round out this issue's cover story, we spoke with Clement
Nouvel, Valeo's chief technical officer for lidar, about Valeo's
background in ADAS and what's coming next. Nouvel leads
over 300 lidar engineers and the company's third-generation
Scala 3 lidar is used on production vehicles from European and
Asian automakers. The Scala 3 sensor system scans the area
around a vehicle 25 times per second, can detect objects more
than 200 meters (656 ft) away with a wide field of vision and
operates at speeds of up to 130 km/h (81 mph) on the highway.
In 2023, Valeo secured two contracts
for Scala 3, one with an Asian
manufacturer and the other with a
" leading American robotaxi company, "
Valeo said in its most-recent annual
report. Valeo has now received
over 1 billion euros (just under $1.1
billion) in Scala 3 orders. Also in 2023,
Valeo and Qualcomm agreed to jointly
supply connected displays, clusters,
driving assistance technologies and,
importantly, sensor technology for to
two- and three-wheeled mobility efforts
in India. Valeo's R&D director in
charge of strategy, Geoffrey Bouquot,
called the company, " currently the
only player on the market mass producing
an automotive lidar system. "
Valeo first installed its first- and second-generation
lidar sensor systems
into autonomous vehicles in 2021.
These were the first AVs in the world
authorized to drive at Level 3 autonomy,
the company said.
Let's start with Valeo's background
in ADAS.
We started investing in lidar, which
we call Scala for " scaling lidar, " about
13 years ago. And we were first to the
market with Level 3 technology. Our
first was a Japan-only, 2021 Honda
Legend with five of our first-generation
Scala units.
The second is the recently released
Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which is operating
at Level 3 in Germany and in
Arizona and California. So, yes, we
can say that Level 3 is enabled only
by Valeo and we have a big head start
in the industry.
Our latest-generation Scala lidar
32 August 2024
offers higher [12 times better] resolution, three times better
range [now more than 200 meters] and a wider viewing angle
[2.5 times wider]. [Valeo claims the first-generation Scala system
could map 44,000 points per second, increasing to
260,000 for Scala 2 and to 12.5 million points per second with
Scala 3, creating point clouds that are as sharp as a photo.]
Valeo is a believer in all three ADAS technologies: lidar,
radar and cameras. But some companies aren't.
The key here is what technologies do
you need to enable the delegation of
the driving process to the car. That's
what we call Level 3, and if you look
at the industry, there is large consensus
that this requires a tech triple:
lidar, radar, cameras.
Each technology has its pros and
cons and, if I use a camera only, then
you would have issues at night or when
you're blinded by the sun. Radar has its
own shortcomings, and the same is true
of lidar. Those who are not opting for
lidar are actually not delivering Level 3.
That's what we need to keep in mind.
The main question is: do you want to
read books or watch a video? If you
really want the machine to be responsible,
then you cannot do that with the
right level of reliability and safety without
lidar. That's the bottom line. Today,
Level 3 requires lidar.
Clement Nouvel, Valeo's chief technical
officer for lidar.
" That's the bottom
line. Today, Level 3
requires lidar. "
How is Valeo different from its
competitors?
There are a lot of startups investing in
lidar. There's a large wave of lidar coming
from Chinese technology and investments.
But it requires a huge investment
to get lidar up and running
and make it profitable. For the newcomers,
it's extremely difficult to keep
up the pace.
Valeo is already at our third generation
of lidar. We've acquired a lot of
experience. We are probably the only
company in the world able to make
progress while not having to invent new
lidar technology, or make massive investments.
We are doing it step-by-step
and that's what sets us apart today.
John Dinkel
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
VALEO

Automotive Engineering - August 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive Engineering - August 2024

Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - Intro
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - Sponsor
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - Cover1
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - Cover2
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 1
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 2
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 3
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 4
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 5
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 6
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 7
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 8
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 9
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 10
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 11
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 12
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 13
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 14
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 15
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 16
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 17
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 18
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 19
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 20
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 21
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 22
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 23
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 24
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 25
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 26
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 27
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 28
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 29
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 30
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 31
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 32
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - Cover3
Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - Cover4
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