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Waymo patents lidar chips that split light into multiple beams

This patent describes a lidar system that uses a single light source and a chip to split the beam into multiple directions. Instead of using moving parts, it uses a series of small optical couplers to scatter the light at specific angles, allowing the sensor to see a wider area at once.

Why it mattersIt could make self-driving car sensors smaller and cheaper by replacing complex mechanical parts with a flat, integrated circuit.

In the filing’s own words

The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, systems and methods of optical sensing for pixel multiplexing and polarized beam steering. Described, among other things, is a system that includes a light source configured to generate a light and one or more optical devices, integrated on a photonic integrated circuit, configured to impart modulation to the generated light and deliver the modulated light to an interface coupling device. The interface coupling device can include a plurality of interface couplers (ICs), each IC configured to scatter the modulated light in a direction that makes at least 5 degrees with an optical axis of lens configured to transmit the light scattered by each IC along a respective direction of a plurality of directions.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An optical system comprising: a light source configured to generate a light; one or more optical devices, integrated in a photonic integrated circuit (PIC), configured to: impart modulation to the generated light, and deliver the modulated light to an interface coupling device; and the interface coupling device, comprising: a plurality of interface couplers (ICs) integrated on the PIC, wherein each IC is configured to scatter the modulated light in a direction that makes at least an angle of 5 degrees with an optical axis of a first lens; and the first lens configured to transmit the light scattered by each IC along a respective direction of a plurality of directions.

Facts

Company
Google (Waymo LLC)
Official title
Lidar systems with planar multi-pixel sensing arrays
Patent number
US12730200B2
Application number
17947988
Filed
Sep 19, 2022
Granted
Sep 8, 2026
Inventors
5
Claims
20

Classified under

G01S 7/4914 Physics & computingG01S 7/4817 Physics & computingG01S 7/4911 Physics & computingG01S 7/4917 Physics & computingG01S 7/499 Physics & computingG01S 17/58 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.