ZF has acquired a 40% stake in German-firm Ibeo Automotive Systems, a market leader in Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) technology and in developing object detection software for autonomous driving. Expanding ZF’s current sensor portfolio of radar and camera technologies, Lidar is an optical method for measuring distance and speed that is very similar to radar, except that laser pulses are used instead of radio waves. The technique currently being developed in cooperation with ZF will reproduce a three-dimensional image of a vehicle’s immediate surroundings without the rotating mirrors used in current systems. The result will be more compact and easier to integrate into a vehicle. “We are equipping the vehicles of tomorrow with new senses and more intelligence, and are gradually filling in the remaining gaps in our technology portfolio,” says ZF CEO Stefan Sommer. “With Lidar technology and sensor fusion we are able to strengthen the eyes and brain of future generations of vehicles and move a step closer to realising the vision of accident-free driving.” The two companies are initially targeting commercial vehicles and passenger cars, but at some point the technology could become available for farm tractors.