N&O Sense Photonics
The News and Observer, a North Carolina-based news outlet, reported on Sense Photonics’ team and financial growth in 2020. The Illinois Ventures portfolio company is building the next generation of LiDAR and 3D sensor solutions for autonomous vehicles, industrial robotics, material handling, activity monitoring and many other applications. Their core technology – protected by over 200 patents – enables a simple, high-performance, solid-state solution with no moving parts that can uniquely meet the rigorous performance, reliability, and cost requirements for automotive and industrial applications.
“Since April — and despite a pandemic — the company has hired a former Google executive as its CEO; grown its headcount from around 50 to 70 employees; and raised its funding totals from investors to more than $32 million,” noted reporter Zachery Eanes.
LiDAR, an acronym for “light detection and ranging” uses pulses of laser light to measure the distance and shapes of objects. The technology allows vehicles to “see” surroundings and more accurately and safely navigate.
“What helps Sense Photonics stand out from other lidar companies is that its technology is solid-state and has no moving parts,” said CEO Shauna McIntyre in the interview. “In a car, there’s a lot of vibration. You hit potholes, you have wind, you have just every possible thing that can go wrong in a car. That’s what I think is so fascinating about the industry ... it’s just a really hard kind of environment for any sort of technology.”
Sense Photonics’ solid-state technology offers a solution for this which can be applied to automotive and industrial systems.