Although LiDAR laser sensors are widely used in the development of autonomous driving, such technologies have been either very expensive or too imprecise for mass production to date. A team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has developed a LiDAR sensor that is both powerful and cost-effective to produce. Silicon was used to create a mirror with a complex microstructure that can cover a very wide field of view - thus inspiring the startup’s name “Blickfeld” , which was founded at TUM in 2017. The technology has further advantages: the system is no bigger than a fist and can be installed in headlights or rear-view mirrors, for example. Since it has very few mechanical components, it is more robust than previous LiDAR technologies. And despite the high-tech method, the “MEMS” mirrors are easy to produce.

This business model also impressed the “Start me up!” jury . The startup competition is organized by the business magazine “Bilanz” and the companies Daimler, HanseMerkur and ProSiebenSat1 Media. Competing against a total of 1,200 applicants, Blickfeld won the main prize endowed with 100,000 euros.