Magna International and its partner, Innoviz Technologies, will supply BMW with solid-state lidar for the automaker’s upcoming autonomous vehicle platforms.
The financial terms of the deal and the make and model of the vehicle were not disclosed.
Magna says the new-business contract “is one of the first in the auto industry to include solid-state lidar for serial production.”
The supplier says the lidar will be able to support Level 4 and Level 5 self-driving systems across multiple platforms.
Magna says it recognizes that lidar is a critical to achieve the desired levels of performance and overall safety of autonomous driving, so it collaborated with Israeli lidar provider Innoviz to integrate automotive-grade, solid-state lidar into its autonomous driving platform.
Lidar, Magna’s icon radar and other sensors and systems within the supplier’s MAX 4 “provide a base platform for OEM products and mobility platforms of the future,” Magna said in a statement.
Magna in 2017 unveiled MAX4, a fully integrated, customizable and scalable platform that can enable up to Level 4 autonomous driving in both urban and highway environments.
The high-resolution lidar developed between Magna and Innoviz generates a 3-D image of the vehicle’s surroundings in real time, even in settings such as direct sunlight, varying weather conditions and multi-lidar environments.
“Automakers have been looking for a lidar technology provider to deliver a mass-market solution,” Innoviz founder Omer Keilaf said in a statement. “BMW is setting a high standard in autonomous vehicles development, and their vote of confidence in our lidar demonstrates how advanced our technology is.”
