This investment raises serious questions

Stallantis announced this Wednesday, March 20, its support for LiDAR technology through its Stallantis Ventures Investment Fund. And, for once, the company the automobile giant is betting on is a French start-up based in Grenoble called Steerlight.. Since its formation in 2022, Stellentis Ventures’ mission has been to target young companies developing technologies related to automobiles and mobility. Stearlight’s French managed to raise 3.2 million euros from the Franco-Italian-American giant in addition to loans from Quantonation and LIFTT as well as Bpifrance. The start-up thus joins 12 other young companies that have already received support from the group led by Carlos Tavares.

A more efficient LIDAR?

Why this start-up and not another? Stearlight is working on a new LiDAR technology (Light Detection and Ranging, or Light Detection and Ranging) based on an electronic chip that will allow clearer and more accurate 3D capture of the environment, while costing much less to mass produce than currently. LiDARs. Stearlight’s system uses a wavelength of 1550 nm instead of between 905 nm and 940 nm, which allows it to emit 40 times more power.. Ultimately, Stellantis wants to integrate this technology into the group’s future models to improve advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving.

Application by 2030?

Although it supports the French company, the investment by Stellentis raises questions in a period marked by massive disinvestment in autonomous driving technology. The decade we’re living in has been heralded as a revolution, autonomous driving seems non-existent and its development seems to be stalling.. On the other side of the Atlantic, Waymo and Cruise, the respective subsidiaries of Google and General Motors that specialize in driverless driving, have severely curtailed their activity while in Europe, manufacturers remain prudent. The investment is “one of the key components of the Dare Forward 2030 Plan initiative”, according to Ned Couric, Technical Director of Stallantis. We just want to believe it, but not sure if 2030 is the right timeframe for a car that drives “alone”.