Waymo announced that its 3D lidar sensors, called Laser Bear Honeycomb, is available to select partners.
A Medium posts claims that Laser Bear Honeycomb is a best-in-class perimeter sensor. Tt’s the same sensor fond aaround the bumper in its autonomous test vehicles. It features:
- Wide field of view: Where some 3D lidar have a vertical field of view (FOV) of just 30°, the Honeycomb has a vertical FOV of 95°, plus a 360° horizontal FOV. That means one Honeycomb can do the job of three other 3D sensors stacked on top of one another.
- Multiple returns per pulse: When the Honeycomb sends out a pulse of light, it doesn’t just see the first object the laser beam touches. Instead, it can see up to four different objects in that laser beams’ line of sight (e.g., it can see both the foliage in front of a tree branch and the tree branch itself). This gives a rich and more detailed view of the environment, and uncovers objects that might otherwise be missed.
- Minimum range of zero: The Honeycomb has a minimum range of zero, meaning it can see objects immediately in front of the sensor. This enables key capabilities such as near object detection and avoidance.
Offering this lidar to its partners, Waymo claims it helps spur the growth of applications outside of self-driving cars and also propels our business forward.
“We can scale our autonomous technology faster, making each sensor more affordable through economies of scale,” said