What is lidar?

Lidar is like having a super fast ruler that can measure distances from far away.

Imagine you're playing hide and seek in a big house. You close your eyes and shout, "I'm going to count!" Then you start counting, 1, 2, 3, and when you open your eyes, you see how far away your friend is by the time they stop hiding. That’s kind of like what lidar does, but way faster and with light instead of sounds.

Lidar sends out quick flashes of light, like a tiny laser. These lights travel until they hit something, like a tree or a car, and then bounce back to where they started. By measuring how long it takes for the light to come back, lidar can tell exactly how far away that thing is.

It’s like having many little helpers in your house who shout "I'm going to count!" all at once and then report back how far away everyone was, but with light instead of voices. This helps cars know where they are, maps get more accurate, and even robots can tell what's around them!