Hyundai Motor Group, including Hyundai Motor, Kia Corporation, and Genesis, have partnered with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) to advance autonomous driving technology. They aim to create on-chip light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems within a new lab, staffing it with 30 engineers from both parties. This initiative seeks to make smaller, high-performance sensors with multifunctional capabilities grounded in semiconductor technology, despite industry setbacks to date commercializing autonomous vehicles.
The technology will help cars understand how far away objects are. It works through a system called frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW), sending out light which changes frequency. When this light bounces back, the system can figure out how far away something is. The goal is to make the technology affordable to be used en masse for autonomous driving scenarios.