28th August 2020

LIDAR is on the RADAR

Start-up Luminar is going public with a reverse merger

Palo Alto based Luminar founded in 2012 has announced that it will be listed on the Nasdaq with an enterprise value of US$2.9 billion. Luminar partners with a number of the world’s major car companies, including Volvo which announced in May, an integration of Luminar tech into its global vehicle platform.

Lidar sensors are critical to advancing autonomous driving. It is not just Luminar who is developing technology in the space. In fact, our landscape analysis on Lidar sensors shows vigorous patenting activity in this technology: more than 10,000 active patent families and more than 3,600 patent owners. The top five owners Bosch, Ford, Chinese Academy Of Sciences, GM and Denso own 11% of the total active patent families in Lidar Sensors.

Lidar Sensors: Active Patent Families by Organisation (source: Cipher)

It is interesting to see the rapid increase in publication activity by the two Chinese start-ups; RoboSense and Hesai Technology, compared to the top owners Bosch and GM. Hesei Technology, in particular, received in May 2019 the “Open Bosch Award” for best start-up collaboration in open innovation.

Lidar Sensors: Patent Families by Publication Date and by selected Organisations (source: Cipher)

Focusing our attention on the publication activity in Lidar Sensors technology, our analysis shows an increasing filing growth trend with a cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33% between 2010 and 2019.

Lidar Sensors: Patent Families by Publication Date (source: Cipher)

For more information on who owns what and where in the Lidar Sensors space, access Cipher via your subscription or find out more about the Cipher Automotive taxonomy or find out more about how we can help you with Competitive Intelligence or Benchmarking

Insights & Events

GPA Lidar Study

The industry standard for understanding the future of the cars and automotive industry.

Automotive Lidar technology is rapidly changing

Global Prior Art, using Cipher classified patent data has found new trends in the rapidly-evolving lidar innovation field.

Automotive Lidar Webinar- Understanding the implications of rapid change

Automotive Lidar is rapidly changing – are you up to speed? View the joint webinar from Global Prior Art and the Cipher team.

Automotive Safety and Security

There are four key trends driving change across the automotive industry and its supply chain. These are loosely categorised as diverse mobility, autonomous driving, electrification, and connectivity.

Cipher Automotive Start-up Finder

Find out who are the key start ups in Lidar…

Having problems scouting start-ups? New Lidar report

The automotive industry is being disrupted at an unprecedented rate, and no single OEM or Tier1 supplier can innovate, even less lead, in all areas

“We have been working with innovators in Lidar and they are genuinely excited about the pace of change in this industry and concerned about being able to follow the complex technology and IP space. That is why we have proposed a vigorous study to provide accurate and transparent information and insight to participants.

Bruce Rubinger, CEO, Global Prior Art

Cipher Vision Podcast

Cipher’s monthly podcast, Cipher Vision is now into its third season. Each episode has co-hosts Nigel Swycher (CEO) and Francesca Levoir (Head of Marketing) and a notable guest discuss an IP or patents-related topic.

Guests have covered a range of subjects, from valuation and sustainability through to diversity and machine learning.

Cipher Vision episodes are under 25 minutes and are ideal to listen to during a short break or journey.

Cipher Vision podcast index

Rewarding Innovation

Episode 11 in Season 3 features Ann Chaplin, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Qualcomm. Ann joined us to discuss how strong IP rights foster innovation globally, stressing the need for balanced regulation and increased diversity in inventors.

Innovation Not Regulation

Episode 10 in Season 3 features Andrei Iancu, Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and former Director of the USPTO – who joined us to discuss maximizing innovation.

Democratization of Innovation

Episode 9 in Season 3 features Keith Bergelt, CEO, Open Invention Network, who joined us to explore the relationship between IP and open source, sharing the benefits and challenges of collaboration and OIN’s role in preserving patent freedom.

Putting Passion in IP

Episode 8 in Season 3 features Anjanette Lecher, Director, Intellectual Asset Management at Corning Incorporated. She shared with us her love of intellectual property, discussing how to take a customer centric approach when analysing and presenting data, adopting the correct tools to support efficiency and visualizations.

SDGs through a patent lens

Episode 7 in Season 3 features Marco Richter, Global Head of Customer Success at LexisNexis Intellectual Property. He highlights the important role that patents play in helping us to become more sustainable, discussing the benefit of measuring innovation in relation to the UN Sustainable development Goals (SDGs).