Aeva 4D Lidar Production in 2024; MVIS Targets Q3 2021

Aeva is receiving a lot of attention and funding for its "4D lidar" technology. This attention is partly due to what Aeva promises its technology can do and the fact that its founders are former Apple employees.

Aeva defines 4D lidar to mean lidar that provides real time velocity data (speed and direction) of objects moving in the field of view. It states that this is a significant advance over current 3D lidar/ time of flight technologies which only provide data describing distance to objects, not their velocity. Obviously, velocity data is extremely useful in applications such as autonomous driving.

Aeva also states that its technology is able to reject interference from ambient or other sources of light which can otherwise affect performance.

In a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, Aeva stated that it is working with numerous potential customers including Porsche (Volkswagen) and is targeting 2024 for mass production of its technology.

Aeva's comments are a shot across the bow for lidar companies competing in the automotive market. Names such as Luminar, Velodyne, Innoviz, Ouster and others appear particularly vulnerable to Aeva's 4D lidar claims given that none of those companies claim an ability to output velocity data.

On the other hand, Microvision explicitly states that its lidar technology outputs a velocity field at 120 Hz and rejects interference from ambient light or other rogue signals. Microvision therefore satisfies Aeva's definition of "4D lidar".

Microvision also claims additional features that Aeva does not: dynamically variable fields of view and resolution which permits simultaneous point measurement over multiple distinct distance ranges and fields of view.

Unlike Aeva, Microvision has announced that samples of its lidar will be available to industry in April 2021 and ready for commercial production by Q3 2021. If Microvision meets these targets, it would appear to have a 3 year lead on Aeva which may provide an insurmountable advantage in this fast moving industry.

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EDIT. Luminar now claims, as of two days ago, velocity data. No numbers but takes a shot at Aeva'a approach (FMCW).