Lumotive Introduces Open Lidar API to Accelerate Market Adoption of Software-Defined, Solid-State Lidar 2.0 Solutions

January 5, 2022 — LAS VEGAS (CES) – January 5, 2022 –, Lumotive, a leading developer of solid-state lidar systems and the award-winning Meta-Lidar™ Platform, today introduced the Open Lidar API (application programming interface) to lead the industry towards scalable, ubiquitous, and lower cost 3D sensing based on Lidar 2.0 technology. Considered by industry experts and observers to be the inevitable future of lidar, Lidar 2.0 is next-generation 3D sensing that is software-defined, solid-state, and scalable — which will make lidar ubiquitous by lowering costs, speeding innovation, and improving user experience. To harness the power of Lidar 2.0, Lumotive is leading the effort to define an Open Lidar API allowing application developers, perception software developers, and lidar hardware developers to use a common and future-proof interface for software-defined lidar.

At the core of the Lumotive Open Lidar API is the ability to control Lidar 2.0 hardware in real time with ultra-low latency, creating regions of interest in the field of view with a user-defined frame rate, resolution, range, and other parameters. The output of multiple regions of interest from a single physical Lidar 2.0 sensor can be virtualized as multiple independent sensors. The flexibility of the Open Lidar API provides solution developers access to improved performance through real-time object tracking and application specific-scan modes, which reduces system cost and complexity through virtualized sensors.

The Open Lidar API also provides a common format interface for point cloud data and support for basic lidar control functions of legacy Lidar 1.0 hardware. In addition, Lumotive is committed to having all its current and future products compatible with the Open Lidar API.

Software-Define Lidar in Action

An example of the capabilities of Lumotive’s software-defined, solid-state Lidar 2.0 solution utilizing the Lumotive Meta-Lidar™ Platform is demonstrated in this video showing real-time object tracking using a real-time reconfigurable field of view.

Open Lidar API Partnerships

Today, Lumotive is also announcing close partnerships with three sensing product development companies — the first members of the Open Lidar API Ecosystem. Adaptive 3D edge perception platform company Cron AI, environmental perception safety solution provider LAKE FUSION Technologies, 3D computer vision developer Seoul Robotics, together with Lumotive, are poised to jointly leverage the Open Lidar API to include advanced Lidar 2.0 features and ensure its portability across products and industries.

“Providing the Open Lidar API through our Lidar 2.0 solution will enable advanced solutions which are easily software customized for distinct applications,” said Dr. Sam Heidari, CEO of Lumotive. “Not only can our customers take full advantage of all the powerful software features of our Meta-Lidar^TM Platform, but they also get access to an ecosystem of software partners developing differentiated 3D sensing solutions where their ease of portability across different hardware platforms will provide significant future leverage. ”

“The availability of the Open Lidar API with more access to controlling operating modes and data streams is extraordinary,” said Christian Meyer, CEO of LAKE FUSION Technologies. “The interaction with LFT’s deterministic perception software forms an excellent basis for a highly attractive mass market introduction, especially for environmental safety applications.”

“Open Lidar API is going to be a real game changer,” said Neil Huntingdon, CSO of Cron AI. “It opens up the opportunity for new and innovative adaptive perception strategies where Lumotive’s Meta-Lidar and Cron AI’s SenseEdge™ deep-learning-first perception processing platform combine as a system that can adapt in real time across the constantly changing real-world of contexts to deliver consistently reliable and accurate object data for smart infrastructure, intelligent transport and autonomous mobility.”

“Until now, we have been limited by proprietary lidar APIs,” said HanBin Lee, CEO of Seoul Robotics. “With Lumotive’s Open Lidar API, we have more control over the operation of the lidar-based systems we are developing, and we can more easily port our leading lidar 3D perception stack to compatible hardware platforms.”

The Lumotive Open Lidar API and its supporting hardware platform are available now to selected partners by contacting Lumotive.  Lumotive’s innovations are also being showcased from January 5-7 at CES, Las Vegas Convention Center, West Hall, Booth 6776.

About Lumotive https://www.lumotive.com/

Lumotive is a leader in all-silicon lidar systems, developing high-performance solutions for consumer electronics, industrial automation, robotics and automotive applications. The company’s Meta-Lidar™ Platform leverages revolutionary beam-steering technology based on patented Light Control Metasurfaces™ and implemented in standard semiconductor manufacturing processes to deliver an unprecedented combination of high performance, cost, reliability and size. Lumotive’s random access beam-steering chips enable the industry’s first software-defined lidar with region-of-interest scanning, object tracking and advanced perception capabilities. Lumotive’s investors include Bill Gates, Quan Funds and MetaVC Partners. Lumotive has received measurable industry acclaim with inclusion in the following rankings: Sensors Converge/Fierce Electronics 2021 Startup of the Year, Built In Seattle’s Best Small Companies to Work For, JMP Securities Efficient Fifty list of the most interesting private companies in industrial and energy technology, and EE Times’ Silicon 100: Emerging Startups to Watch. Lumotive’s Meta-Lidar™ Platform was recently recognized with two CES 2022 Innovation awards and a 2022 SPIE Prism Award. The company is also nominated for a prestigious 2022 Edison Award.