Cepton, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPTN) believes its light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology could play a crucial role in enhancing safety in the trucking industry as the company engages in Request for Quote discussions with major semi companies for autonomous driving applications.
The company’s senior vice president of product Brunno Moretti recently joined Proactive to talk through the development.
“Autonomous driving [for semi companies] is something that we see a lot of value in and that’s going to grow in usage in the near future,” Moretti told Proactive.
He said LiDAR acts as a “protective cocoon” around a vehicle, using near-range lighters around the cabin. They can even be placed on the cargo itself.
“Having the ability to know what’s immediately around the vehicle is super helpful,” he said.
“If the weight distribution is incorrect and the trailer starts to sway, we can use LiDAR to detect this from the cargo and apply automated braking or other features to slow it down and not have the trailer swerve become an accident.
“It’s the same with jackknife prevention. With LiDAR, we are able to detect when it gets close to a dangerous zone and can tell the vehicle to slow down.”
He also pointed to the usefulness of LiDAR in parking semi trucks, as this can often cause damage to these massive vehicles and other property around them.
Cepton is a Silicon Valley innovator of lidar-based solutions for automotive, smart cities, smart spaces, and smart industrial applications.
Contact the author at emily.jarvie@proactiveinvestors.com
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