Innoviz Technologies Ltd.

Novelsat Ltd.

Innoivz Technologies Ltd.

Amit Steinberg

Omer Keilaf

Oren Buskila

Ronen Eshel

Nir Osiroff

David Elooz

Oren Rosenzweig

Guy Zohar

Julian Vlaiko

Alon Gan

Shahar Levy

Oded Yeruhami

Pavel Berman

Daniel Wajcer

Ovadya Menadeva

Sason Sourani

Moshe Medina

Michael Girgel

Yair Antman

Amir Day

Smadar David Raly

Mor Miller

Yair Alpern

Dan Peleg

Idan Bakish

Guy Cohen

Yuval Yifat

Hanoch Kremer

Matityahu Shani

Matiyahu Shani

Systems and methods use LIDAR technology. In one implementation, a LIDAR system includes at least one processor configured to: control activation of at least one light source for illuminating a field of view; receive from at least one sensor having a plurality of detection elements reflections signals indicative of light reflected from objects in the field of view; dynamically allocate a first subset of the plurality of detection elements to constitute a first pixel; dynamically allocate a second subset of the plurality of detection elements to constitute a second pixel; following processing of the first pixel and the second pixel, dynamically allocate a third subset of the plurality of detection elements to constitute a third pixel, the third subset overlapping with at least one of the first subset and the second subset, and differing from each of the first subset and the second subset; and following processing of the first pixel and the second pixel, dynamically allocate a fourth subset of the plurality of detection elements to constitute a fourth pixel, the fourth subset overlapping with at least one of the first subset, the second subset, and the third subset, and differing from each of the first subset, the second subset, and the third subset.

Varying detection sensitivity between detections in LIDAR systems

Systems and methods may detect an object within a minimum predetermined distance of a LIDAR system. The LIDAR system may comprise a processor configured to control a light source and a light deflector to illuminate objects located in a space illuminated by the light source; determine a distance to a first object based located within a field of view of a LIDAR sensor; receive, from a supplementary sensor, reflection signals indicative of light reflected from a second object outside the field of view; determine, based on the second reflection signals that the second object is located within a predetermined distance; and regulate, based on the determination, at least one of the light source and the light deflector to prevent an accumulated energy density of light emitted by the light source from exceeding a maximum permissible exposure level.

Virtual protective housing for bistatic lidar

A system includes at least one processor configured to detect, based on point cloud information, portions of a particular object, and determine, based on the detected portions, at least a first portion having a first reflectivity corresponding to a license plate, and at least two additional spaced-apart portions corresponding to locations on the particular object other than a location of the first portion. The at least two additional portions have reflectivity substantially lower than the first reflectivity. The at least one processor is further configured to classify the particular object as a vehicle, based on a spatial relationship and a reflectivity relationship between the first portion and the at least two additional portions.

LIDAR systems and methods for detection and classification of objects

In some embodiments, a LIDAR system may include at least one processor configured to control at least one light source for projecting light toward a field of view and receive from at least one first sensor first signals associated with light projected by the at least one light source and reflected from an object in the field of view, wherein the light impinging on the at least one first sensor is in a form of a light spot having an outer boundary. The processor may further be configured to receive from at least one second sensor second signals associated with light noise, wherein the at least one second sensor is located outside the outer boundary; determine, based on the second signals received from the at least one second sensor, an indicator of a magnitude of the light noise; and determine, based on the indicator the first signals received from the at least one first sensor and, a distance to the object.

Binning and non-binning combination

A LIDAR system may include: a first housing containing a processor configured to control a light source to enable light flux of the light source to vary over a scan of a field of view; a second housing located in a vehicle remote from the first housing, the second housing containing a controllable light deflector, and an actuator configured to move the light deflector; and a data conduit configured to interconnect the first housing and the second housing, the data conduit is associated with a forward path from the first housing to the second housing and a return path from the second housing to the first housing, wherein the data conduit is configured to cooperate with the processor and the actuator such that the forward path conveys signals for controlling the actuator and the return path conveys reflections signals indicative of light reflected from objects in the field of view.

Distributing LIDAR system components

A LIDAR system, comprising: (a) a plurality of anchored LIDAR sensing units, each anchored LIDAR sensing unit comprising at least: (i) a housing; (ii) at least one detector, mounted in the housing, configured to detect light signals arriving from objects in a field of view of the anchored LIDAR sensing unit; and (iii) a communication unit, configured to output detection information which is based on outputs of the at least one detector and which is indicative of existence of the objects; and (b) at least one integratory processing unit, configured to receive the detection information from two or more of the plurality of anchored LIDAR sensing units, and to process the received detection information to provide a three dimensional model of a scene which is larger than any of the field of views of the independent anchored LIDAR sensing units.

Distributed LIDAR systems and methods thereof

A LIDAR system or a vehicle may include at least one processor configured to perform a method to detect objects in a field of view. The method may include controlling at least one LIDAR light source in a manner enabling light flux of the at least one LIDAR light source to vary over a plurality of scans of a field of view; receiving, from a group of detectors, a plurality of input signals indicative of reflections of light projected from the field of view; detecting a possible existence of an object in the background area based on first input signals associated with a first scanning cycle; detecting a possible existence of the object based on second input signals associated with a second scanning cycle; and aggregating the first and second input signals to detect an existence of the object at an object-existence-certainty level higher than a threshold.

Aggregating data over time to improve image quality

Aggregating pixel data associated with multiple distances to improve image quality

The present disclosure provides systems and methods that use LIDAR technology. In one implementation, a LIDAR system includes at least one processor configured to: control activation of at least one light source for illuminating a field of view; receive from at least one sensor a reflection signal associated with an object in the field of view, a time lapse between light leaving the at least one light source and reflection impinging on the least one sensor constituting a time of flight; and alter an amplification parameter associated with the at least one sensor during the time of flight.

Dynamically allocating detection elements to pixels in LIDAR systems

A LIDAR system for detecting a vehicle may include a processor configured to: scan a field of view (FOV) by controlling movement of at least one deflector at which at least one light source is directed; receive from at least one sensor signals indicative of light reflected from a particular object in the FOV; detect, based on time of flight in the received signals, portions of the particular object in the FOV that are similarly spaced from the light source; determine, based on the detected portions, at least a first portion having a first reflectivity corresponding to a license plate, and at least two additional spaced-apart portions corresponding to locations on the particular object other than a location of the first portion; and based on a spatial relationship and a reflectivity relationship between the first portion and the at least two additional portions, classify the particular object as a vehicle.

Detecting objects based on reflectivity fingerprints

A LIDAR system is provided. The LIDAR system comprises at least one processor configured to: control light emission of a light source; scan a field of view by repeatedly moving at least one light deflector located in an outbound path of the light source; while the at least one deflector is in a particular instantaneous position, receive via the at least one deflector, reflections of a single light beam spot along a return path to a sensor; receive from the sensor on a beam-spot-by-beam-spot basis, signals associated with an image of each light beam-spot, wherein the sensor includes a plurality of detectors and wherein a size of each detector is smaller than the image of each light beam-spot; and determine, from signals resulting from the impingement on the plurality of detectors, at least two differing range measurements associated with the image of the single light beam-spot.

Detector-array based scanning LIDAR

A LIDAR system for use in a vehicle may include at least one light source configured to project light toward a field of view for illuminating a plurality of objects in an environment of a vehicle and at least one processor configured to control the at least one light source in a manner enabling light flux of light from the at least one light source to vary over scans of a plurality of portions of the field of view. The LIDAR system may receive information indicating that a temperature associated with at least one system component exceeds a threshold, and in response to the received information indicating the temperature exceeding the threshold, modify an illumination ratio between two portions of the field of view such that during at least one subsequent scanning cycle less light is delivered to the field of view than in a prior scanning cycle.

Temperature based control in LIDAR

A LIDAR system is provided. The LIDAR system comprises at least one processor configured to: control at least one deflector to deflect light from a plurality of light sources along a plurality of outbound paths, towards a plurality of regions forming a field of view while the at least one deflector is in a particular instantaneous position; control the at least one deflector such that while the at least one deflector is in the particular instantaneous position, light reflections from the field of view are received on at least one common area of the at least one deflector; and receive from each of a plurality of detectors, at least one signal indicative of light reflections from the at least one common area while the at least one deflector is in the particular instantaneous position.

Parallel scene scanning in LIDAR using a common steerable deflector

A LIDAR system is provided. The LIDAR system comprises at least one processor configured to: control at least one light source in a manner enabling light flux to vary over a scan of a field of view, the field of view including a first portion and a second portion; receive on a pixel-by-pixel basis, signals from at least one sensor; estimate noise in at least some of the signals associated with the first portion of the field of view; alter a sensor sensitivity for reflections associated with the first portion of the field of view; estimate noise in at least some of the signals associated with the second portion of the field of view; and alter a sensor sensitivity for reflections associated with the second portion of the field of view based on the estimation of noise in the second portion of the field of view.

Growing community of inventors

Adanim, Israel

Amit Steinberg