Aeva today announced a strategic collaboration with LG Innotek, a manufacturing affiliate of the LG Group, to accelerate the commercialization of its FMCW (frequency modulated continuous wave) lidar perception platform for a range of industries and new applications across automotive, industrial automation, robotics, and consumer devices. The partnership includes a strategic investment by LG Innotek of up to about $50 million for an anticipated equity stake in Aeva and capital investments to bring production capacity online for Aeva’s next-generation products.

“The ultimate goal of this partnership is for LG Innotek and Aeva to grow together as key players leading the next-generation lidar market through a long-term technology partnership that goes beyond the supply of products,” said Hyuksoo Moon, CEO of LG Innotek. “Starting with this collaboration with Aeva, LG Innotek will continue to expand its LiDAR product lineup, which delivers differentiated customer value, and further solidify its position in the global market as a total mobility solution provider for the future.”

LG Innotek is already a supplier of optical sensing solutions for some of the world’s leading car makers.

The collaboration is intended to accelerate the adoption of Aeva’s FMCW-based perception platform into physical AI intelligent systems equipped with sensors, processing, and AI software that can perceive, understand, and interact with the physical world in real time. The two companies will develop new sensing and perception solutions combining Aeva’s perception platform, consisting of its FMCW lidar-on-chip sensor, a custom processing SoC (system-on-chip), and perception software, with LG Innotek’s global scale and cross-industry experience to advance the technology’s adoption in automotive and expand to additional sectors.

The collaboration will start in the automotive sector with the manufacture and supply of the Atlas Ultra 4D lidar sensor. Available in 2026, the company describes it as the slimmest long-range high-resolution FMCW 4D lidar sensor with simultaneous velocity and range detection. Built to enable SAE Level 3/Level 4 highway-speed automated driving, it is said to deliver three times the resolution with up to 150 degrees of vision across the horizon, all in a slim design for minimal impact to vehicle styling and aerodynamics.

In March, Aeva announced that a global top 10 passenger OEM had awarded Aeva a development program for its next-generation global vehicle platform. The lidar startup also said it had received a letter of intent from the OEM for a large-scale multi-year production program award opportunity this year, which includes multiple vehicle models across the OEM’s global platform, with an Atlas Ultra 4D lidar sensor SOP targeted for 2027.

“This win is a key milestone in our ongoing collaboration with a top 10 passenger OEM and is a major validation of the capabilities of our new Atlas Ultra 4D lidar sensor with its slim design making it ideal for seamless vehicle integration,” said Soroush Salehian, Co-Founder and CEO at Aeva, in March. “This further reinforces Aeva’s position as the leading supplier of next-generation sensing solutions for automated driving. It also represents another major automotive manufacturer moving to FMCW technology to expand its operational design domain and enable highway-speed Level 3 automation.”

Key performance highlights include three times the resolution and a 35% slimmer design compared to Aeva’s Atlas lidar. The maximum range is 500 m (1640 ft), and the field of view is 150 (H) x 30 (V) degrees. The automotive-grade lidar is ISO-26262 ASIL-B (-D) functional safety certified.

Earlier this month, Aeva announced an expanded partnership with Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) to advance the commercialization of Aeva’s 4D LiDAR technology for autonomous trucks. DTNA is providing additional funding to further support Aeva’s development as the startup plans to increase its production capacity to up to 200,000 lidar units annually, to support multiple customers, including DTNA.

The expanded partnership builds on the selection of Aeva as the production lidar supplier for Torc Robotics, an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG, and its SAE Level 4 autonomous Freightliner Cascadia trucks. The first autonomous-ready Cascadia trucks equipped with Aeva’s 4D lidar sensors are now operating on public roads in Texas.

“The performance, reliability, and scalability of Aeva’s 4D LiDAR technology will make it a key component of our strategy to deploy safe, reliable, and efficient autonomous trucks,” said Joanna Buttler, General Manager of Product Strategy and Market Development at Daimler Truck North America.

While traditional lidar sensors use high-power laser pulses to sense distances to objects, Aeva’s FMCW 4D lidar technology uses a low-power continuous laser beam to simultaneously measure range and velocity with high resolution at long ranges up to 500 m, enabling vehicles like DTNA’s autonomous truck to provide new levels of safety and automation at highway speeds.

Beyond the automotive and truck applications, Aeva and LG Innotek will co-develop new sensing and perception products for the industrial automation market for use across industrial equipment operating indoors and outdoors. The partners will pursue opportunities to deliver next-generation perception systems for the fast-growing robotics sector; LG Innotek is already a key player in optical and lidar sensing modules, including for next-generation humanoid robots. They also plan to explore new opportunities in emerging consumer applications such as smartphones, tablets, AR/VR headsets, smart appliances, and home robotics—areas they believe FMCW sensing can unlock significant new capabilities.

“Together, we see a tremendous opportunity to bring Aeva’s perception platform to a wide range of applications—wherever machines need to perceive and understand their surroundings,” concluded Salehian.

Top leadership from LG Innotek, including CEO Moon and CTO S. David Roh, will join Aeva’s co-founders at Aeva Day on July 31 to discuss the partnership. To register and view the event via webcast, visit investors.aeva.com.