What do iPhones and cars share – apart from the GIGA front page? Lidar sensors! Apple has been installing the scanners since 2020 and the technology is also used in autonomous driving. You can find out exactly what the lidar system is and how it differs from radar here.

Lidar in the iPhone and in the car: what is it?

The abbreviation stands for “Light Detection and Ranging” and describes how the scanner works. Using light waves the distance and speed of objects are measured. As with radar, electromagnetic waves are used, but a different frequency range is used (source: mein-autolexikon.de).

The light pulses return from the environment back to the sensor. The Light transit time measuredthat is, the time it takes for light to travel a distance. This information is then sent to various other security systems such as Distance keeping assistants passed on.

Lidar scanner: what is it good for?

are roughly explained Lidar sensors like a radar to understand. Manufacturers use these in cars to detect obstacles at an early stage. Lidar sensors in cell phones can detect spatial depths and thus simplify image processing. Since 2020, Apple has been installing the scanners in the iPad Pro and the iPhone 12, iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 Pro (source: macwelt.de).

Other areas of application for lidar sensors in cell phones include: Virtual reality and the camera’s portrait mode. For example, if you want to buy a new coffee table, you can use some apps to see it directly in your living room – without ordering it beforehand. On the other hand, this makes portrait photos even sharper because the camera can measure the exact distance of the person you want to photograph in front of you and adjust the lens just right.

Lidar vs. radar: the differences explained

A quick reminder: “Radar” stands for “Radio detection and ranging“. This means that object detection and distance measurement works using radio signals. Signals are sent out at a certain frequency and are examined for changes when they return (source: digikey.ch).

However, the lidar system is not a radar, even if the similarities are numerous. An important difference is that lidar bad weather conditions surrendered. Snow, fog, sand, dust and heavy rain prevent accurate measurement of distances. In this case the car is essentially blind. This is, among other things, one of the biggest obstacles in the development of autonomous driving.

So why don’t we use radar? Even if the technology works much more reliably in bad weather, the shape and size of obstacles or pedestrians can change don’t recognize it exactly like lidar. This makes it unsuitable for use in a car – at least not on its own.