Espros, Benewake Partner for 3D Time-of-Flight Sensor Chips in Lidar

Espros Photonics AG and Benewake Co. Ltd. have signed a frame agreement for the supply of 3D time-of-flight sensor chips for robotics and autopilot vehicles.

A team of Benewake engineers visiting Espros Headquarters in Sargans, Switzerland. Courtesy of Espros.

This frame order concludes an engineering cooperation between both companies. Espros has matured the sensitivity of the epc600 and epc610 chip product family while Benewake has developed the DE LiDAR, which is applied to obstacle avoidance, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), and artificial intelligence applications. Benewake has developed a whole line of sensor products based on the Espros time-of-flight chip family.

"I [have been] working 30 years on making time-of-flight chip sensors a reality,” said Beat De Coi, CEO and founder of Espros Photonics. “Yuan Li and his motivated team from Benewake have impressed me from the beginning. Their spirit and hard work have earned them the recognition of the Chinese venture capital scene and the robotics industry.... I am extremely proud that Benewake chose our sensor chips for their lidar. Their lidars show excellent performance in perception and SLAM.”

This frame contract will supply the launch of Benewake’s first-generation lidar system.

Espros develops and produces photosensitive semiconductors for industrial and scientific applications. Benewake develops solid-state lidar.