It is the opinion of some in the tech industry that LiDAR will soon be obsolete. Is LiDAR actually doomed to be pushed aside by new technology? Could all surveyors someday decide not to use LiDAR? In this blog post, we will be looking into, an trying to find an answer to, these questions.
LiDAR Might Not Be the Future for Autonomous Vehicles
Within the autonomous vehicle industry, we have seen an argument erupt about the necessity of LiDAR. It seems some companies, like Tesla, are doing fine without it. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, hates LiDAR and believes that any self-driving car company that uses LiDAR is doomed to fail.
His criticism is valid. When Tesla first started developing their system, LiDAR was expensive and wasn’t high powered enough to recognize different objects. Tesla relies on visual recognition cameras that have gathered real-world data as Tesla’s are driven.
On the other side, some autonomous vehicle companies that rely on LiDAR are big fans. They think LiDAR is crucial to safety of autonomous cars. Additionally, they argue that LiDAR technology has advanced significantly in the past few years – which is very true. The cost has also been significantly reduced.
Other Industries Are Also Questioning LiDAR
It isn’t just autonomous vehicles that are wrestling with the choice to retire LiDAR technology. There is a current debate on the International Space Station about whether to remove the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar system.
This system has been used by scientists to observe changes to forest canopies and vegetation to calculate how much carbon is still stored in the forest.
NASA isn’t planning to dismantle the program because it wasn’t successful. In fact, scientists say the instrument is doing a great job at helping them understand and fight climate change. They are fighting to keep the system on board.
NASA seems to feel that they need to give other instruments a chance to get their time on the space station. It appears that NASA doesn’t feel like the LiDAR instrument is worth continuing – although they haven’t outright said that. They plan to replace the LiDAR instrument with new Defense Department experiment, known as STP-H9.
Is LiDAR on Its Way Out for Surveying?
Within the surveying world there has been talk about the need for LiDAR for a while now. Some loved Photogrammetry and argued that it will eventually replace LiDAR because it is better.
Back in 2012, some surveyors who had been in the laser scanning business for decades were jumping ship to photogrammetry – like Carlos Velazquez, head of Epic Scan. Back in 2012, he gave a presentation at SPAR 2012 where he said, “having been through the headaches of lidar, I saw this as a solution that could really open up the market.”
Recently, the conversation has shifted a bit. People are realizing that if there is an obstruction like a tree canopy, photogrammetry can’t create an accurate 3D model. In this case, LiDAR is needed. Additionally, LiDAR is still needed for narrow objects like roof edges.
Photogrammetry does provide higher accuracy, so in situations where LiDAR isn’t needed, it does make sense to go for Photogrammetry. But the answer to the question is LiDAR obsolete seems to be a clear no. LiDAR is clearly still necessary for specific situations. Additionally, some of the perceived downsides to LiDAR are changing, such as the previously high cost of LiDAR systems.
