When Car Sensors Suddenly Make Cities, Logistics, and Security Smarter

Innoviz originally started as a supplier to the automotive industry, providing LiDAR systems—a technology that uses laser light to precisely measure the distances, shapes, and movements of objects and generate three-dimensional environmental data from that information. What aspect of this technology triggered the spillover effect?

A completely new class of high-resolution LiDAR sensors was developed for the automotive industry. As production volumes ramp up in the automotive sector, these LiDAR sensors are now becoming price-competitive for other markets as well. The automotive industry was thus the catalyst that made LiDAR sensors—with high resolution, a wide field of view, long range, and many frames per second—mainstream.

When did you realize that your automotive technology was suddenly relevant to entirely different industries as well? Was there a specific “aha moment”?

There wasn’t really a classic “aha moment,” but rather a gradual realization that was confirmed through conversations with customers. Many customers specifically seek out sensors with automotive certifications because they view them as a mark of quality. In addition, the precise mapping of a 3D environment is relevant in nearly all sectors—whether in logistics, security technology, or urban infrastructure. The need to accurately understand and digitize one’s surroundings is universal.

What was ultimately the deciding factor for non-automotive customers in choosing a technology originally developed for the automotive sector?

Another aspect that surprised us: Our long-term supply contracts with OEMs are a real selling point for non-automotive customers. Competitors in the non-automotive sector regularly launch new product families and phase out older lines, which repeatedly results in costly new integrations for customers. With Innoviz, customers can rely on continuity while still being able to switch to new product generations if they choose.

What can your LiDAR sensor do that a normal camera can’t? And why is that precisely the key to so many different application areas?

Cameras have two fundamental weaknesses: they are prone to glare—for example, at tunnel exits or in direct backlight—and they perform poorly in the dark. LiDAR sensors emit their own light and are therefore completely independent of ambient lighting conditions.
The second, and perhaps even more decisive, advantage is the third dimension. Our sensors capture the environment in 3D, meaning they provide precise XYZ coordinates for every object.

This allows for the determination of exact distances and dimensions, which significantly simplifies object recognition. In fixed installations, this makes it possible to distinguish very elegantly between moving and stationary objects and to focus specifically on what is changing in the environment. This is precisely the core of many of our new application areas, ranging from perimeter security to people flow detection and traffic monitoring.

Your system is currently used in autonomous driving, perimeter security, drone detection, and robotics, to name just a few examples. Which of these fields has surprised you the most personally?

People flow detection surprised me the most, because I never would have thought that a sensor from the automotive world would suddenly find its way into train stations or at large events. What made this breakthrough possible is a combination of two advantages: First, LiDAR operates completely independently of the environment—that is, regardless of the time of day, brightness, or darkness—which makes it ideal for continuous operation in infrastructure. Second, there’s the issue of data protection: In smart city applications, our LiDAR sensors capture too few data points on faces to make them identifiable.

With InnovizSMART, you’re bringing a new technology to urban infrastructure. How does this specifically change the daily lives of people in a city?

InnovizSMART digitally captures the reality of cities. Specifically, this means that traffic lights can respond in real time to actual traffic flow instead of following rigid timing cycles. Parking spaces can be intelligently monitored without installing cameras that raise privacy concerns. All of this is based on the point clouds generated by LiDAR. For individual city residents, this means less traffic congestion, greater safety, and an infrastructure that responds to them rather than ignoring them.
A concrete milestone for us is that, starting this year, municipalities and municipal companies can purchase our sensors directly from the EKOM21 catalog without going through a bidding process. This significantly lowers the barrier for cities and puts us in the best position for smart city applications of all kinds.

Did you actively reach out to new industries to promote your technology, or did inquiries from industry, cities, and security agencies come to you on their own?

Both are true, but in a specific order. It started with pioneers—that is, companies and organizations that were actively looking for alternative sensor technology and reached out to us. The general public in cities, industrial companies, or law enforcement agencies has often never even heard of LiDAR, let alone understood how it works. This means we’re currently building an entirely new market, and our most important task right now is market education.

How are you adapting to this new customer group?

As a result, unlike in the automotive industry, our new customers are rarely sensor specialists. Our new customer base is primarily looking for a solution to their problem and is open to how it’s solved. That’s exactly why we developed the InnovizSMART product line—a plug-and-play solution that’s easy to use even without in-depth technical knowledge.
What also helps us here is a selling point that we ourselves initially underestimated: Our LiDAR sensors can be operated in compliance with data protection regulations. Many use cases that were legally difficult or impossible to implement with cameras suddenly become possible with LiDAR. This creates a real pull effect—not because we’re advertising aggressively, but because the technology solves a problem that was previously unsolved.

In which areas—ones that hardly anyone is aware of today—will LiDAR technology emerge next?

One area that’s currently gaining massive momentum is drone detection. Global awareness of the danger posed by unauthorized drones is growing, and many companies are working on systems that can locate and neutralize drones. The key factor here is precise positioning and classification. Radar detects objects in the sky from a great distance but struggles to distinguish a drone from a bird because the signal is initially identical.
LiDAR solves precisely this problem: The geometry and position of the object are captured with precision and classified using object recognition software. As in the automotive industry, we recommend sensor fusion here as well, combining radar or a camera with LiDAR to leverage their respective strengths.