ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 20

WOODSIDE CAPITAL
Making Sense of
Next-gen ADAS Sensing
Significant growth is forecast for cameras, radar, lidars and onboard compute through 2027, according to Woodside Capital analysis.
environment that often causes false braking.
Evolving 4D imaging systems are expected to
dominate the ADAS market, according to Abdullah
Zaidi, leader of Rivian's sensors team. He said
4D radars deliver 300 m (984 ft) of detection
range, with 80-deg. angle of resolution, versus
current systems with 18-deg./200-m (656-ft)
range. More-advanced chipsets are bringing higher
resolution; Texas Instruments' latest offers 1192
virtual channels, while Arbe's offers 2304, Zaidi
noted. Gated imaging and short-wave imaging
radar (SWIR) are soon to arrive in volume.
SiPM and SWIR
Lidar will play a significant role in the passengervehicle
segment, with new edge-emitting and
fiber types now in key suppliers' pipelines. " We
see long-range lidars being adopted sooner than
short-range types, " Zaidi, formerly with Qualcomm,
told the AutoSens audience. Work is ongoing to
reduce lidar power consumption to below the 1213
Watts of the most efficient types, he said.
Experts agree that lidar's main holdup is cost:
To see it in volumes greater than 200 million units
20 DECEMBER 2023
annually, the technology will need a significantly
greater amount of light power - and that's expensive,
they noted. On cost and performance, the hardware
is evolving. Regarding detectors, for example, the
industry is moving to silicon photomultiplier (SiPM)
technology, Zaidi said; SiPM is a solid-state, high-gain
radiation detector that produces an output current
pulse upon absorption of a photon. These sensors with
single-photon sensitivity can detect light wavelengths
from near-ultraviolet (UV) to near-infrared (IR).
He explained that SiPM has evolved into a premier
photodetector, noted for its high internal gain and
low excess noise. Further, SiPMs are mechanically
compact, can be operated at low voltages and are
impervious to magnetic fields. The energy resolution
possible with SiPMs is in some instances comparable
to that achieved by photomultiplier tubes (PMTs).
Semiconductors, expected to account for
20% of a premium vehicle's bill of material
by 2030, according to Roland Berger, play an
increasingly key role in creating more-capable
and cost-effective sensors. Belgium-based
semiconductor developer Imec recently introduced
a miniaturized, single-chip, solid-state lidar
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT

ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023