What is LiDAR?

LiDAR stands for 'light detection and ranging'. Similar to radar, LiDAR sensors can detect objects in their field of view and work out how far away they are. While radar bounces radio waves off an object to detect it, LiDAR bounces invisible beams of light off objects instead. This gives it far more sensing accuracy than radar, although it's more expensive and has a slightly shorter overall sensing range. Very few production cars currently use LiDAR sensors because of their cost, but it's a popular choice for experimental self-driving cars thanks to its excellent sensing accuracy.