LG Innotek, the components and materials subsidiary of South Korea’s LG Group, has formed a manufacturing partnership with Aeva Technologies, a company specializing in 4D LiDAR sensing systems. Under this agreement, LG Innotek will produce and supply Aeva’s Atlas Ultra 4D LiDAR sensor for automobiles, with plans to later expand the technology into consumer electronics, robotics, and industrial automation. As part of the deal, LG Innotek will invest up to $50 million in Aeva, acquiring a roughly 6% stake in the U.S. company.
Aeva’s co-founder and CEO, Soroush Salehian, stated that the initial focus of the partnership is the automotive sector. LG Innotek will serve as the manufacturing partner for some of the world’s top 10 passenger vehicle manufacturers.
Founded in 2017, Aeva has invested nearly half a billion dollars in developing what it calls “4D LiDAR on a chip.” Unlike traditional LiDAR systems that use time-of-flight measurements to gauge distance, Aeva’s Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave-based technology measures both distance and velocity for every pixel in real time. Salehian likened the advancement to transitioning from black-and-white to color cameras, emphasizing the added dimension of velocity data.
Aeva has integrated the entire LiDAR system, including optics, into a compact silicon photonics module. This chip-scale design allows for more efficient production and integration, making it suitable for scaling in automotive, robotics, and consumer electronics markets.
The company plans to use the capital from the deal to further product development and expand its team. Salehian noted that Aeva has spent the past eight years miniaturizing the hardware and aims to refine it into a single, monolithic chip.
Beyond automotive applications, Aeva is targeting the manufacturing sector through partnerships with Nikon in Japan and CKG in Germany. The company is also expanding into smart infrastructure and transportation, providing security and monitoring solutions at major U.S. airports, including San Francisco International Airport and JFK Terminal One.