Lidar
- Date
- 1961 · confidence medium
- Place
- Hughes Aircraft, Culver City, California, United States; Velodyne, Morgan Hill (rotating lidar, 2005)
- Credited to
- Hughes Aircraft (Malcolm Stitch, 1961); David Hall (Velodyne, 3D lidar for the DARPA Grand Challenge)
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
The measurement of distances by the time of flight of laser pulses to create three-dimensional maps. It is used in mapping, archaeology (the discovery of Maya cities) and self-driving cars.
What it led to
- Self-driving cars and mobile robotics
- Archaeology beneath the rainforest and precision mapping
- The iPhone and iPad with lidar for augmented reality
Built on
Made possible
- Self-driving car (VaMoRs, DARPA Grand Challenge, Waymo)1986-2018
- lidar archaeology
- 3D scanning on mobile phones