This Is Why Mobileye Is Ending Lidar Development

• Mobileye announces plans to end frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) lidar development, calling it "less essential," while prioritizing imaging radar and vision-based sensors, even though lidar is still viewed as critical by robotaxi developers and operators.

• The company has cited the dropping cost of off-the-shelf lidar sensors in the decision to end in-house lidar development, which had been important in prior years. Mobileye expects to achieve substantial R&D savings following the shutdown of its lidar development program later this year.

• ADAS systems that use lidar are still very rare in consumer vehicles in the US due to cost and regulatory barriers to more advanced SAE Level 3 eyes-off systems.

Lidar is still seen as a crucial technology for SAE Level 3 cars and SAE Level 4 robotaxis alike, but this doesn't mean it makes sense for all autonomous tech developers to focus most of their time on sensor hardware.

Autonomous tech developer Mobileye is now moving away from lidar development entirely. And the reasons are perhaps logical at this stage in autonomous sensor evolution.

Mobileye says lidar is now "less essential" to its path toward Level 3 eyes-off systems, citing increased performance of imaging radar, its EyeQ6-based computer vision perception, and continued cost reductions in off-the-shelf lidar systems.

The company plans to wind down its lidar R&D unit by the end of this year, cutting a program that had cost it approximately $60 million in 2024 alone, ultimately aiming for cost savings in the coming years.

What does Mobileye expect to hold greater importance in the coming years when it comes to autonomous tech development?

"In terms of Mobileye’s internal sensor development, imaging radar is a strategic priority," the company noted. "This is a core building-block technology that we expect to drive competitive advantage for Mobileye-based eyes-off systems in cost/performance optimization and scalability."

In the past few years we've seen both a focus on improving lidar performance while reducing sensor size and cost, represented by a majority of autonomous developers, as well as a greater focus on vision-only systems driven by software, with Tesla being the major proponent of this approach.

In Tesla's case, the automaker has staked the development of its systems on future gains in software that interprets data from cameras—a bet that has yet to pay off—while also shedding radar sensors from its cars.

However, Mobileye's move should perhaps be seen largely in the context of other systems, with lidar sensors having made strides in recent years to the point where their cost and further development is a much lesser concern for the autonomous industry. The company points out that this move will not affect its overall development efforts or customer product programs.

One other trend that should concern those following the development of ADAS systems and higher levels of automation is the fact that SAE Level 3 systems, all of which use lidar, continue to see an extremely limited rollout in the US, given the continued trend of state-by-state legislation of such systems.

The major driver of lidar sensor purchases in the coming years, therefore, are likely to be robotaxis rather than consumer cars.

So far we've only seen Mercedes-Benz launch a Level 3 system in a couple of states, while other automakers with such systems in the pipeline or on sale elsewhere have largely sat on their hands, deeming the regulatory barriers too great in the US for the expected payoff in selling such systems to consumers.

Similarly, jurisdictions where SAE Level 4 testing and operations are permitted are small in number and scope.

Will we see eyes-off Level 3 systems arrive in greater numbers in the second half of the decade, or are such systems further off? Let us know what you think.