Bosch said the internally-developed lidar sensor will cover both long and close ranges on roads and in cities and will work in conjunction with the company’s own camera and radar technologies.
Lidar technology, which uses light-based sensors to generate a three-dimensional view of the road, is still a young technology and remains, in many cases, too expensive for mass market use.
The news that Bosch has developed its own lidar sensor, to provide more depth data that would allow self-driving cars to detect the distance to other road users like pedestrians, is seen as a major development in this space and the company's involvement in a market traditionally dominated by numerous start-ups could help speed adoption of the technology.
“Bosch is making automated driving a viable possibility in the first place,” Bosch management board member Harald Kroeger said in a statement.
Bosch, who will be demonstrating the technology at CES next week, did not provide a timeline, pricing or technology details for its lidar, but a spokesman said the company is working on making the sensors “production ready” and the focus will be on “affordable mass market” technology.
Lidar is currently used by General Motors, Ford and Alphabet's Waymo and Apple. Others are less enthusiastic about adopting lidar, citing a high cost and limited capabilities..