On September 9, autonomous driving technology company Mobileye announced that it has decided to cease internal development of the next-generation frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) lidar for driver assistance and fully autonomous driving systems. The company also plans to shut down its lidar R&D department by the end of this year, a move that is expected to impact around 100 employees.
Mobileye explained that due to significant progress made in its EyeQ6-based computer vision perception, improvements in the performance and clarity of its internally developed imaging radar, and the unexpectedly high cost-effectiveness of third-party time-of-flight (ToF) lidar devices, the company reevaluated the role of FMCW lidar technology in its product lineup. Mobileye concluded that next-generation FMCW lidar is not as critical to its driverless system roadmap as previously thought.
