PIDA stated the the LiDAR applications market is considerably broad, and among applications such as map surveying, detection, robot vacuums, ADAS, and environmental applications, map surveying LiDAR accounts for the largest portion of the applications. In recent years, map surveying LiDAR has come to account for the main share of LiDAR applications; however, the LiDAR market share is expected to decrease due to the gradual saturation of demand for applications.

The large amount of LiDAR sensors which will be installed in automobiles as safety devices will serve as replacements for other devices with lagging demand. Some examples of LiDAR applications which will be advantageous for use in automobiles are low speed collision avoidance systems, lane departure systems, driver assistance systems, and smart headlight systems for unified adaption of headlights. In addition, PIDA estimates that LiDAR will experience an annual composite growth rate of 24.5% with the most rapid growth in ADAS applications.

PIDA also emphasized that the domain of LiDAR applications is extremely broad, and within this domain business opportunities in the automotive industry are particularly promising. Furthermore, with the commercialization of self-driving automobiles, decreasing prices and shrinking volume will be important factors in triggering the rapid growth of LiDAR.

(TR/ Phil Sweeney)