PreAct Technologies announced the availability of its Mojave Flash LiDAR, cited as a high-performance, low-cost sensor solution by the Oregon-based company. According to a press release, Mojave Flash LiDAR is designed for a sizeable list of applications, including smart cities, robotics, agriculture, cargo monitoring, university research, and security, among others. As part of the release, PreAct also stated that Mojave LiDAR is the only software-definable flash lidar designed to meet the needs of both automotive and non-automotive applications.
“As more industries are discovering the power of lidar sensors to provide high-quality data while also maintaining individual privacy, we knew that our technology would be a perfect fit for these applications,” said Paul Drysch, CEO of PreAct. “We created the sensor to allow companies to monitor volume and movement through high-density point clouds, which gives them the information they need to adjust their services without the ‘creepy’ factor of watching individuals on camera.”
Mojave Flash LiDAR Applications & Cost
In the automotive and transportation realms, applications for Mojave LiDAR include smart cities where municipalities are looking to deploy the latest technology to garner more accurate information about traffic patterns and public transit. Outside of automotive, in a field like retail, for example, PreAct said Mojave Flash LiDAR can provide insight into consumer behavior, warehouse logistics, and theft and violence detection.
To help facilitate adoption by a wider swath of industries, Mojave LiDAR has a depth accuracy error of less than 2 percent, provides 1.4 million points per second of depth information, and can detect floor slope and camber. Mojave LiDAR is distributed globally by DigiKey Electronics and Amazon, with a single unit retailing for $350 USD. “The availability of such powerful technology at an affordable price is a game changer,” Drysch said.
Stealth Mode
Regarding automotive applications, Mojave Flash LiDAR is among the innovations from PreAct Technologies that followed after the company emerged from “stealth mode” at CES in 2019, an internal designation that signified PreAct’s entry into the ADAS space. At the time, PreAct leadership surmised that self-driving companies would need to pivot their solutions and technologies toward ADAS versus full autonomy. “We knew that self-driving was not going to come as quickly as everybody thought, and we saw the writing on the wall,” Drysch recalled on an episode of AutoVision News Radio. “We knew that self-driving technology would soon trickle down into ADAS systems, and we wanted to beat others to the punch.”
