2020 BRN Discussion, page-29230

Happy bday FF.
Here's some further reading for you to enjoy.

A few months ago I speculated that Ford no longer invested in Velodyne because Argo AI's Lidar product was proven to be superior or better, possibly due to integration of Akida. This recent article shows Argo AI have made incredible progress with it's Lidar product and achieved an industry record sensing range capability of 400m and which works well in both daytime and night time.
This article also references how in January Ford doubled the range of their radar system to 200m, although this now brings it in line with other leading automotive products.

Akida provides the ability to significantly reduce the power consumption of sensors. In theory, this would mean that more powerful sensors could be used without increasing power consumption compared to using a lower power sensor without Akida. While it's not clear if this approach was used, I highly suspect Akida will be used to keep power consumption levels low.

https://futurride.com/2021/05/05/breakthrough-lidar-tech-gives-argo-ai-an-edge/

Pittsburgh, PA-based Argo AI has developed a new LiDAR technology that the self-driving company says overcomes the limitations preventing most competitors from commercializing autonomous delivery and ride-hailing services. By detecting the most difficult-to-see objects from farther away and with more precision, the Argo SDS (Self-Driving System) is capable of 360-degree awareness day or night and can safely drive on busy city streets, in suburban neighborhoods, and most importantly now at highway speeds.

“Argo Lidar takes us to a whole new level of self-driving technology, unlocking our ability to power both delivery and ride-hail services,” said Bryan Salesky, Founder and CEO of Argo AI. “The Argo Self-Driving System delivers the safety, scale and service experience that businesses want and their customers demand, especially coming out of the pandemic.”

This breakthrough in autonomous vehicle technology was enabled by Argo’s 2017 acquisition of Princeton Lightwave, a company that pioneered an innovative form of long-range Geiger-mode LiDAR. The result is a sensor believed to be the industry’s longest-distance sensing range capability of400 m (1310 ft), with dark-object detection for safe highway driving. Argo Lidar offers ultra-high-resolution perception, providing the photorealistic imaging required to identify small objects for safe operation on complex city streets.

Argo says that the SDS capabilities, combined with the company’s fleet dispatch infrastructure and operations experience, translate into clear advantages when it comes to commercialization. Safe operations in cities, suburbs, and on highways enables connections from warehouses to urban and suburban routes for middle- and last-mile delivery, or service to the most in-demand ride-hailing routes to and from airports. Scaled operations are based on extensive testing and development in six U.S. cities, with additional cities coming online this year as well as expansion into Europe. Its service experience, including address-to-address routing within urban and suburban areas of operation, maximizes effectiveness for deliveries or commuters.

Through deep collaboration with automotive partners Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen Group in the technology integration and development of commercial-grade self-driving vehicles, Argo believes it can meet the durability requirements for maximizing commercial fleet uptime and improving operations and customer satisfaction.

In January, Browning provided some details of the latest fourth-generation SDS fleet of Ford Escape Hybrid self-driving test vehicles on the company’s Ground Truth blog. He says that they comprise “product intent” components, which means that they have the functional performance needed to be manufactured affordably and offer automotive-grade ruggedness, reliability, and durability.

In addition to the new LiDAR, he said another big advancement is in radar. The company’s new radars nearly double their range of detection, and when coupled with the expanded detection capabilities of the long-range LiDAR, allows its vehicles to travel safely at higher speeds.

Pure speculation, DYOR