By now it’s a given that demand for lidar sensors is heading toward levels never seen before. A few companies in the automotive lidar market have met this growing demand with factory expansions: Velodyne made the leap a few years ago. Now, the relatively new Quanergy has jumped in, announcing its second expansion in less than 12 months. The latest investment will see the company doubling the size of its lidar manufacturing facility in Sunnyvale, California.
In an official statement, Quanergy said it is aiming for an “order of magnitude” increase in production capacity. Though automotive applications have been the most publicized driver of increased demand for lidar sensors, the company also cites demand in security, industrial automation, mapping, robotics, and smart spaces as stimulus for its expansion.
“As a growing number of industries realize the extent to which LiDAR technology can bring intelligent situational awareness to various applications, we have seen a dramatic increase in the demand for Quanergy’s lidar sensors,” said Dr. Louay Eldada, CEO of Quanergy.
This move could be crucial to Quanergy’s strategy to offer lidar at very low prices, which has been part of the company’s brand since the beginning. Another benefit is that the market now has one more company manufacturing lidar sensors at scale for a wide range of applications, meaning we can likely look forward to some healthy competition.
