On the morning of September 2, the 10th International Sensor and Application Technology Exhibition was held at the New International Expo Center in Jiangdong District, Zhonghai.

The exhibition attracted more than 700 sensor companies from all over the world, including OPTOI, EnOcean, Boshi, Montfort, HBM, Mack, Velodyne, CSR Times, Kependa, Jiangwei, Rohm, Aerospace Electronics, Dahua, Turck, etc.

Tianyi, a well-known light sensor in China, was invited to participate in the exhibition.

The team led by Yao Xin, the person in charge of the light sensor, arrived at Zhonghai on the afternoon of the 31st.

What Tianyi will exhibit this time is a "light detection sensor" for unmanned driving.

Unmanned driving has been in the news frequently in the past two years, but the focus of people's discussion is basically on its safety.

Whether it is safe or not is reflected in the sensor.

At present, there are five major sensors for mainstream autonomous driving, each with its own merits.

The first is a 2D camera.

The advantages are high resolution, fast speed, rich information transmission, and low cost. It can clearly identify objects, accurately understand the meaning of traffic lights, signs, and lanes, and detect vehicles and pedestrians.

The disadvantage is that the image of the strong light and sunlight is large, and those who turn on the high beam at night will be blessed!

The second is sonar. Sonar works on the principle that the transmitter emits 50 kilohertz of ultrasound, and the receiver calculates the distance to the object with a time difference by receiving the bouncing sound waves.

The sonar resolution is very poor, it is sensitive to dirt in the air, and it cannot distinguish the real information of the environment at all;

For example, there are five words floating in the sky, it doesn't know it, and it doesn't know how many words are floating, anyway, it will give you a "crunch" and stop.

However, sonars are cheaper than 2D cameras, used for parking and reversing, and adding a few more sensors is not painful.

As for unmanned driving, forget it.

The third is radar.

The radar knows exactly how many words are floating in the sky, and it is not affected by the weather conditions, even rain, snow and haze can function normally, and it is not sensitive to dust.

However, the radar transmits electromagnetic signals, so it cannot detect painted wood or plastic, and it is very sensitive to metal surfaces, and if it is a curved metal surface, it can be mistaken by the radar for a large surface.

For example, a small can on the road may even be judged by radar as a huge roadblock.

The fourth is GPS, ranging and IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit).

This kind of thing is completely different from the military, so don't mention it.

The focus is on the fifth sensor, LIDAR, which stands for "Laser Detection and Ranging Sensor".

Similar to sonar, LIDAR also measures distance by the time difference between emission and reflection.

It's just that the carrier is not sound, but laser.

LIDAR has a lot of advantages, so I won't go into detail one by one, anyway, it is the mainstream of the market and the safest unmanned driving sensor.

There is only one drawback, expensive!

Prices range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars.

Remember, it's one.

Last year, a Volvo XC90 driverless car crashed and killed a woman crossing the road in Arizona. At that time, the car was equipped with a LIDAR sensor produced by Velodyne for "Uber" in the United States.

However, it was later confirmed that Uber installed seven LiDAR sensors for the Ford Fusion, but by the time of the XC90, it had become one.

Let's not talk about this matter, how much less does it cost to install 6 LIDAR sensors, Uber is better than anyone else.

Of course, they were stupid afterwards.

............

At this time, the exhibition hall was crowded with buyers, buyers and tourists from all over the world, visiting the venue of up to 100,000 square meters.

Tianyi Technology, which has always attracted global attention, has naturally become the focus of this exhibition.

At this time, outside the exhibition hall of hundreds of square meters at No. 58, there were many people around, and 6 sweet-looking commentators of the light sensor were introducing the "light detection version 3.0 sensor" to the guests.

"Our Tianyi laser sensor, with a scanning frequency of 174.5HZ, can scan 2.2 million ...... of 3D data points per second"

One of them, a girl with straight black hair, was holding a black round box about the size of talcum powder.

Hearing that the 3D information collection volume of Tianyi light detection sensor was as high as 2.2 million, the onlookers at the scene showed shocked expressions and asked one after another.

"Little girl, you didn't lie to us?"

"Dyne's HDL-32E sensor is only 700,000 data points per second, doesn't that mean that your sensor is three times sharper than the HDL-32E?"

"Yes, the global model sensor has only just reached 1.8 million data points. ”

“......”

In the face of inquiries from many domestic and foreign manufacturers, the girl wearing a white shirt and a professional skirt said unhurriedly: "Everyone, please look at the detector I have at hand, it is a Finnish ......."

Three minutes later, when the detector clearly showed 2.2 million scan data points, many automakers still didn't believe it.

How many data points are scanned only proves the sensitivity of the sensors you produce in the world;

But what really determines whether unmanned driving is safe or not lies in whether the processor can complete such a large amount of information analysis in an instant and make a correct prediction?

If these can't be done, it's equivalent to frying the concept.

One of the middle-aged Asians asked in awkward Chinese, "Little girl, have you conducted a comprehensive driving test?"

"I'm sorry sir, but this optical C-1 detector has only been available for a short time, and it is currently only being tested in the infield. ”

Hearing this, the shock of scanning 2.2 million data points per second instantly subsided.

"Infield testing" is just a pretty word, but to put it simply, experimental data.

Experimental data is completely different from driving on the road, and there are too many uncertainties on the road.

Sensors that have not undergone comprehensive driving tests are fancy and useless.

Everyone listened for a while, and the six light detection sensors of the same type and different HZ brought by Tianyi this time have not been tested on the ground, and they are suddenly lacking interest.

"After all, I'm not a professional in automotive sensors, so I'm still taking it for granted!"

"Well, even if such a large amount of information is collected, the price will probably be very expensive, and mass production will not be possible in the short term. ”

"Let's go, let's go to Dahua and have a look, I heard that they developed a sensor that is directly installed in ADAS last month......"

Soon the onlookers left and walked to the showrooms of other more competitive sensor manufacturers.

However, a few representatives of the manufacturers remained.

"Hello little girl, I am Geely's factory representative, I have some questions I would like to consult your engineer, can you please help me inform me?"

The straight-haired girl called a man who looked like a supervisor on the scene, and after explaining the situation, the supervisor in his 30s came over and said with a smile: "Please wait a minute, Mr. Yao Gong will come soon." ”

............

For rushing to bring products to the exhibition without comprehensive site testing, Han Yi also knew that something was wrong.

But time waits for no one, the restrictions in North America and the trade protection on the EU side have had a great impact on the sales of optical sensors.

The total sales of optical sensors in the third quarter have fallen to 1.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 35%.

Now the light sensor urgently needs to open up a new battlefield, the automotive sensor.

Conference Hall in the East Area of the Expo Center.

Han Yi is in talks with Jilina Anderson, chief marketing officer of the German Enizon Alliance.

The six sensor production sites jointly built by the two parties in Germany came to an abrupt end in mid-May due to the sudden outbreak of a unilateral trade protection war.

Han Yi hopes that the Enesen Alliance can actively promote the resumption of cooperation between the two sides.

"Although I also hope that our cooperation will be successful, you also know that there are some things that our company can say. In her 30s, Gillina Anderson, dressed in a formal suit, spread her hands and said she couldn't do anything.

Han Yi pondered for a moment, and then asked, "I heard that Bo Shi is acquiring Yi Nengsen, and your government also intends to promote the conclusion of this deal, I wonder if there is such a thing?"

"Yes. This is indeed the case. Jilina Anderson did not shy away from this question, "But Mr. Han, please rest assured that the memorandum of understanding treaty we signed is still valid." ”

The memorandum of understanding is a bond that binds the relationship between the two parties during the honeymoon period, and when the relationship breaks down, it is better than wiping the butt paper.

Han Yi put his hand on the back of the chair and tapped it gently, thought for a while, and finally stood up and stretched out his hand and said, "Okay then! Say hello to Mr. Anderson for me." ”

Jilina Anderson stood up to greet him, her blue eyes full of smiles, "Okay." Mr. Han walked slowly. ”

............

Yao Xin was waiting outside the conference room, and when he saw Han Yi coming out, he stepped forward and asked, "How is it?"

Han Yi shook his head.

Yao Xin's face was a little disappointed, but then he followed: "I just met with Geely Chief Engineer Tao Yang, and I hope we can do a comprehensive field test, what do you think?"

Han Yi thought about it as he walked.

Why didn't he want to do a comprehensive field test?

However, doing the actual test involves background big data computing and AI intelligent systems, which are currently under intense development by Tianyi and have not yet reached the closed beta.

And the companies that do better in the market for these two things are mainly Google and Whiteness.

As early as 16 years, Google's self-driving car road test mileage has exceeded 2 million miles, and Li Yanhong rode a whitescale driverless car on the fifth ring road, which even attracted the attention of all walks of life, including the traffic police department.

But Han Yi didn't want to use the technology of these two companies.

He wants to wait for these two technologies to come out, and then package them as a whole. When the time comes, a set of light detection sensors and systems will sell for three to five thousand dollars, just like playing.

But time waits for no one.

What a great opportunity to make an appearance at the International Sensor Exhibition Conference?

Once you miss it, it will be half the effort to go back and try to create a topic to attract the attention of domestic and foreign car manufacturers.

After thinking for a long time, Han Yi finally spoke: "Okay, you go and prepare! Let's let them see what it means to be truly unmanned." ”