Opsys Lands Lidar Deal With South Korea’s SL

California startup Opsys says it has landed a deal to provide solid-state lidar sensors to South Korea-based automotive supplier SL.

Opsys Tech will deliver full production lidar systems to SL beginning in 2024-2025, the San Jose-based developer says.

The SL contract is just one of several deals Opsys says it has in hand with Asia-based suppliers to provide its Microflash lidar sensors for production vehicles in the next two to three years.

Opsys’ technology is based on VCSEL (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser) microchips that are easier to produce – and thus less costly – than those based on the edge-emitting laser technology that backs most other solid-state or semi-solid state lidars on the market today. VCSELs are used by Apple in its iPhones for face recognition, and fabricators are said to be tooling up rapidly to meet demand for such chips, meaning availability should increase and prices continue to come down.

Opsys calls its version of lidar technology Microflash because the hundreds of lasers on each chip can fire in sequence, rather than all at once, scanning a scene at a rate of 1,000 frames per second. That ultra-rapid scanning increases the signal-to-noise ratio, meaning smaller objects can be detected at greater distances,

“Our latest supply agreement, and others we expect to announce soon, are evidence the industry is recognizing the superior performance and value of Opsys Tech lidar,” says Opsys CEO Rafi Harel.

The Opsys lidar will be packaged into lighting modules produced by SL, the Korean supplier says.

“That integration will enable SL to bring to market an automotive integrated lighting system with best-in-class lidar functionality. SL is…looking forward to introducing this product line during (calendar) 2022,” says Wanseok Kim, senior researcher of R&D.