Cepton Technologies, a provider of 3D sensing solutions for automotive and industrial applications, launches its first low-cost lidar sensor: the HR-80 series.
Although Cepton announced the product’s launch at the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in May 2017, the company has been shipping it to customers since February. Co-founder and Vice President of Engineering Mark McCord told SPAR3D that Cepton is the only company in the industry to ship high-performance and low-cost lidar sensors directly to customers.
The HR-80 series consists of two products. The HR-80W provides a wide viewing angle and the HR-80T captures points at long-range, or a distance of about 200 m. Both feature better than 0.2 degree angular resolution in both horizontal and vertical directions.
“Besides automotive, our customers are using our product for a wide range of applications including robotics, automation, surveillance and mapping,” said Mark McCord. Cepton hasn’t disclosed any customer names, but McCord said that the company has “established a solid base of customers, including automotive OEMs, tier-one suppliers, startups and industrial companies.”
When asked how much the sensors cost, McCord said prices can be lower than $500 if ordered at volume.
“There are a few factors which help us keep costs low,” he continued. “To name two: We use no exotic materials, like gold or diamond; and our innovative laser emission and sensing array does not rely on immature or research grade materials. As a result, we can provide an immediate path to mass production and deployment for automobiles and industrial applications.”
Cepton plans on continuing mass-producing its product to meet its ultimate goals of enabling 3D perception for smart machines, driving automation forward, and meeting the market’s need for high-performance, high-resolution and low-cost 3D sensing solutions.
