Lidar Startup Is Struggling

摘要

Developers have for years been looking for an affordable, solidstate lidar sensor that can complement cameras and radar sensors in self-driving and advanced driver assistance applications. Among the dozens of companies developing automotive lidar technology, Quanergy, which was founded in 2012, has stood out. In 2016 the company claimed it would be ready to start selling its solid-state lidar sensors to carmakers for 250 US dollars each in a year or two, and from there drop to below 100 US dollars each. A production facility in Silicon Valley was set to begin operations at the end of 2017. Sensata, which invested 50 million US dollars in Quanergy, announced a plan to jointly develop, manufacture and sell lidar sensors to the transportation market. Other investors climbed aboard including Aptiv and Samsung. According to a Bloomberg.com article published on January 16, 2020, “Quanergy consistently failed to hit an ambitiousˉtimeline for the development of its sensors … and shipped devices that didn’t work as advertised.” Two funding rounds in 2018 were unsuccessful. In January the company’s co-founder, Louay Eldada, was replaced as CEO and also left the board.