On April 18, the details of the head of Jidu Automobile's first concept car were exposed, equipped with two lidars, and it is reported that when the lidar does not work, it can also be retracted to the inside of the hood.
Shortly after the detailed diagram was exposed, Li Xiang, the founder of Ideal Auto, commented on the relevant Weibo, saying:
"Putting one on the roof and putting two on the cover or bumper makes no difference in performance, and even a single performance on the top of the head will be better." However, in terms of pedestrian collisions, repair costs, and vibration control (linking the main body), the roof is optimal. The only problem is that the shape of the roof lidar will need to be adapted, because it is too much like a mobile suit - Gundam. ”
Tightly, the CEO of Jidu Automobile replied to Li Xiang below the comment, saying that there is still a difference, 120 degrees OFFOV and 180 degrees of FOV are still not the same, and the solved corner case is not the same, so there is still a difference in the ability and experience of the product and even the safety." ”
In fact, with the popularity of intelligent driver assistance systems, models equipped with lidar have long been common. However, the reason why Li Xiang will pay more attention to this matter and deliberately leave a message, perhaps because the lidar equipped with the Jidu concept car is from the AT128 of Hesai Technology, and the ideal flagship model Ideal L9, which has not yet been officially released, is equipped with this lidar.
However, the Jidu Concept car is equipped with two, while the Ideal L9 is equipped with only one.
So, is the lidar really more the better?
On April 22, He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xiaopeng Motors, also released his views in the circle of friends, saying that "two lidars are definitely far better than one in terms of performance, and the difference can be seen in the future in urban NGP and robustness." Xiaopeng Automobile's two current two models equipped with lidar, the Xiaopeng P5 and the Xiaopeng G9, are also equipped with two lidars.
Leaving aside the above-mentioned car companies that are deeply involved in the matter, the entire industry does not actually have a unified opinion on the number of lidars. For example, Weilai, Weima and other enterprises are equipped with a lidar like ideals.
Tesla is a player who insists on taking pure visual algorithms, not only does not use lidar, but even in the US market, millimeter-wave radar has been completely banned with cameras, and even Musk has publicly declared that "high-precision maps and lidar = false and stupid."
The salon mecha dragon, which was unveiled during the Guangzhou Auto Show last year, was loaded with four lidars in one go, and in the lower grille of the front face, the left and right wings and even the bottom of the rear of the car were equipped with them, and they were even marked with the slogan of "four or less, please don't talk" in the promotional poster, which can be described as domineering.
At the same time, it is not difficult to find that in this controversy between Xia Yiping, Li Xiang and He Xiaopeng on lidar, in addition to the number of lidar, the installation location is also one of the points of contention of several bigwigs.
Li wants to think that installing lidar on the roof of the car is not very good, because it is "too much like a mobile suit - Gundam", but the ideal L9 still loads the lidar overhead, which may be the reason why Li wants to consider pedestrian collisions, maintenance costs, and vibration control.
For He Xiaopeng, there is the same problem. After releasing the circle of friends, He Xiaopeng commented in his comment area, "We initially wanted to put two on the roof, but no matter how designed, they are similar to the ears of rabbits, and then we gave up." ”
Finally, Xiaopeng Automobile chose to embed the lidar directly under the headlights on both sides, and many car companies chose to put it in the front bumper or front grille position, so that the processing would not be too abrupt visually, but according to Li Xiang's point of view, this sacrificed the detection range and maintenance costs of the lidar itself.
In fact, the sensor of lidar is still a "futures" in the current intelligent driver assistance system. At present, only Xiaopeng Automobile and the Great Wall system of the two companies in the industry announced that they will push the urban pilot assistance driving system today, while other auxiliary driving functions do not really use lidar.
Compared with cameras, millimeter-wave radar and ultrasonic radar, the application of lidar is still in a relatively early stage, and the entire industry has not formed a real unified opinion on the implementation of intelligent driver assistance systems. Therefore, the promotion of lidar by car companies is still a gimmick that is greater than its actual use.
Is lidar really the best solution for urban pilot assisted driving systems? How many are used and where is the best? At present, the industry as a whole still cannot draw conclusions, and may never be able to draw conclusions.
However, compared to the number of lidar, the location of the installation, etc., as He Xiaopeng said, "in fact, the hardware configuration only represents a potential possibility, and ultimately the balance of safety, cost, scenario and capability." ”