Volvo launches pandas with lidar from 2022

In 2022, Volvo launches a vehicle equipped with the U.S. Luminar Technologies lidar with high-precision lidar technology.

Volvo invested in Luminal in 2018, and it combines Luminal Lidar technology in the XC90 SUV, which adopts the next-generation platform SPA2. Most of the new cars sold now are equipped with sensor devices such as cameras and radars that provide driver assistance functions such as automatic emergency braking and lane keeping assistance. However, there are few vehicles that are equipped with LiDAR, which scans in detail around the vehicle as one of the main components of autonomous driving.

For this reason, Volvo invested a strategic stake by paying attention to the startup Luminal, which possesses lidar technology capable of high-resolution scans. First, it is to provide a technology that implements autonomous driving functions at a safer and lower cost, limited to highway driving, from 2022.

There are such features as the Tesla Autopilot when it comes to autonomous driving features limited to the highway, but Tesla requires the driver to put his hand on the steering wheel and look ahead, and always be careful. On the other hand, the Highway Pilot feature that Volvo intends to provide can be a near-complete autonomous driving operation, while limiting the motorway to the highway without requiring the same level of attention from the driver. Volvo plans to provide the highway pilot function a little later as an OTA update, but the available areas will gradually expand.

Velodyne, one of the major lidar companies, costs up to $75,000 if expensive, but Luminal is aiming to reduce costs to $1,000 as an autonomous driving option. Volvo says that some companies like Tesla are trying to build fully autonomous driving technology without Lida, but in its own opinion, Lida technology is essential for building a fully autonomous driving technology system with driving technology equivalent to humans. Related information can be found here .