Waymo, Uber driverless projects make scanning sensors cheaper

A camera sensor sits on the roof of a Waymo LLC Chrysler Pacifica autonomous vehicle in Chandler, Arizona, U.S., on Monday, July 30, 2018. The Google offshoot is tinkering with pricing and finalizing its business model for autonomous vehicles, which includes a new effort to boost public transit. Photographer: Caitlin O'Hara/Bloomberg

Google's Waymo, Uber and carmakers GM and Mercedes-Benz are among the companies working to put driverless vehicles in showrooms. That competition also should help lower prices that can reach US$75,000 (RM310,807) apiece for the sensors that scan a car's surrounding environment so it knows how to drive itself. 

By 2020, there will be more than 10,000 autonomous cars equipped with lidar sensors, which bounce laser beams off objects to figure out where they are in three-dimensional space, according to a report published Sept 5 by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The scramble is prompting some of the world's biggest technology brands – including Microsoft Corp, Samsung Electronics Co and Baidu Inc – to invest in lidar developers.