Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors and smart sensing solutions developer, Quanergy Systems Inc., has formed a partnership with Geely Automotive Group, China’s largest proprietary automobile brand, to develop lidar solutions for the broad deployment of smart city and autonomous vehicle systems.
The announcement follows an initial deployment of Quanergy’s lidar-based smart city system at intersections across the Hangzhou Bay Area, Ningbo City, and Zhejiang Province. This is the first combined smart infrastructure and intelligent vehicle deployment in the country sponsored by the China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development with 5G-Vehicle-to-Everyhing (5G-V2X) communications, autonomous driving vehicles, and vehicle-road cooperation techniques. The roadside sensing system features Quanergy’s artificial intelligence-powered (AI) 3D lidar traffic management platform, which integrates the company’s M8 lidar sensor unit and QORTEX DTC (Detection, Tracking, Classification) software.
The QORTEX software uses 3D perception algorithms to detect and track vehicles and pedestrians based on the rich point cloud data received from the M8 lidar unit to increase the intelligence of infrastructure. Quanergy’s patented long-range M8 lidar sensor uses multiple laser beams and Time-of-Flight (TOF) depth perception to provide 420,000 points per second that offers a complete 360-degree field of view day or night, in any light or weather condition. Taking the detailed lidar data, processed through the QORTEX software, Geely’s intelligent vehicles then receive details on roadside objects through 5G wireless communication networks that increase sensing performance, minimise blind zones, and maximise road safety.
Headquartered at Sunnyvale, in California’s Silicon Valley, Quanergy offers lidar-based smart sensing solutions for numerous sectors including transportation, security, 3D mapping, drones and robotics. As the parent company of automotive brands including Volvo and Lotus, Geely will use Quanergy’s compact S3-8 solid-state lidar sensor to power a variety of their autonomous vehicles. The two companies’ collaboration will be showcased at the upcoming 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, from January 7-10. One of Geely’s Lotus cars will be equipped with Quanergy’s S3-8 sensors, displaying real-time perception of the show floor, and the partners will be explaining their latest initiatives in China.
“The automated transportation and smart city spaces are incredibly complex, and in the future, you will not have one without the other. Smart city installations utilizing lidar technology will ultimately lead to the roll-out of autonomous vehicles that have the ability to communicate with each other, and with the infrastructure around them,” noted Dr Louay Eldada, Quanergy’s co-founder and CEO. “Through our work with Geely, we are building one of the first connected ecosystems designed to enable seamless communication between vehicles and their surroundings, bringing us one step closer to our autonomous future.”
A Geely executive commented, “We’ve seen a tremendous influx of lidar companies over the last several years, but Quanergy has developed unique technologies incorporating a vision that goes beyond simply powering autonomous vehicles. Our partnership will allow us to deploy one of the most advanced lidar technology solutions on the market and offer a new integrated automotive and smart city solution that we believe can position us as a leader in the new mobility age.”
