Cepton Unveils World’s Slimmest, Software Definable Top-end Lidar, the Vista-X120 Plus

Powered by Cepton’s next-generation innovations to offer an unprecedented combination of superior performance, power efficiency, adaptivity and compactness

Cepton, a Silicon Valley innovator of high-performance lidar solutions, announced the unveiling of its groundbreaking new lidar, the Vista-X120 Plus.

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“Utilizing OEM-validated building blocks, the Vista-X120 Plus aims to enhance vehicle safety across all levels of automation. This pathbreaking lidar is positioned to quickly hit the mass market and enable the precision needed for autonomous driving at a safety level that every consumer deserves.”

The Vista-X120 Plus is the world’s slimmest software definable, top-end automotive lidar for real-time adaptive 3D perception. Embodying the automotive industry’s biggest trends – safety, autonomy, software definability and electrification – it packs Cepton’s next-generation innovations, enhancing lidar performance without compromising reliability, size, power efficiency and cost.

This game-changing lidar has been recognized in the CES 2023 Innovation Award program in the Vehicle Tech & Advanced Mobility category and will be showcased at booth No. 5553, LVCC – West Hall during CES in Las Vegas, NV, from January 5 – 8, 2023. Attendees interested in a live demonstration and/or learning more about Cepton are encouraged to submit a meeting request form.

The Vista-X120 Plus advances Cepton’s vision for mass-market lidar adoption. Expanding on Cepton’s commercially scalable Vista-X90 lidar, which will be deployed in the Company’s flagship ADAS lidar series production program, the Vista-X120 Plus offers significantly higher performance and embeddability: a 500% increase in data rate, 30° wider field of view, over 20% reduction in size and 50% reduction in height.

Featuring a software definable region of interest (ROI), the Vista-X120 Plus enables higher dynamic perception capabilities. Its tunable central field of view with increased angular resolution enables higher accuracy in the detection and classification of key objects in a given driving scenario. The ROI is configurable in real time in both horizonal and vertical directions, unlocking a higher level of intelligence and efficiency, while making the lidar sensor versatile and adaptive to various use cases – same hardware, flexible adoption.

With a production size of 140 (W) x 30 (H) x 150 (D) mm, the Vista-X120 Plus offers an unparalleled combination of slimness, compactness and embeddability. Its footprint is ~50% slimmer and smaller than the competition, enabling greater OEM integration and placement options without disrupting vehicle appearance.

“The Vista-X120 Plus’ upgraded scanning mechanism enables extremely dense point clouds, while simplifying software algorithms for efficient sensor calibration and dynamic perception,” said Cepton’s CTO and Co-Founder Dr. Mark McCord. “Our proprietary ASIC chip enables optimal signal processing to further maximize lidar efficiency and performance. The tunable ROI helps the vehicle perception better focus on potential hazards across different driving scenarios. In spite of its significantly elevated performance and flexibility, the Vista-X120 Plus consumes less than 18 W of power, which is exceptional for long-range lidars and will be important for integration into electric vehicles.”

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At its <18 W power consumption, Vista-X120 Plus offers a 200 m range at 10% reflectivity, angular resolutions of 0.05° (ROI) and 0.1° (non-ROI), a 120° x 25° field of view and a data rate of over 6 million points per second.

With a target price point below $500 for volume production, the automotive-grade Vista-X120 Plus is positioned for mass-market deployment. Building upon Cepton’s patented MMT^® technology, it features an elegant precision opto-mechanical architecture with infinite mechanical life to maximize durability and reliability for automotive use. Its modular design and off-the-shelf components make it easily manufacturable in large volumes at low costs.

“Cepton was one of the firsts to scale lidar for high-volume, multi-vehicle model deployment through our flagship lidar program,” said Cepton’s CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Jun Pei. “Utilizing OEM-validated building blocks, the Vista-X120 Plus aims to enhance vehicle safety across all levels of automation. This pathbreaking lidar is positioned to quickly hit the mass market and enable the precision needed for autonomous driving at a safety level that every consumer deserves.”

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