LightWare LiDAR, a pioneer in the development and implementation of LiDAR technology, has recently announced a noteworthy extension of its product warranty to 24 months. This announcement not only signifies the company's confidence in its products and quality systems but also underscores its commitment to supporting professionals and businesses engaged in complex drone-based operations.
To delve deeper into this development, Commercial UAV News spoke with Nadia Nilsen, Group CEO of LightWare LiDAR. We explored the company's new warranty, its collaboration with clients in fields such as package delivery and disaster mitigation, and what lies ahead for the company.
Commercial UAV News: Describe the mission of your company. How do your products and services benefit the communities you serve?
Nilsen: At LightWare LiDAR, we recognize the unique capability of LiDAR technology in enabling machines to perceive their surroundings, unlocking a new era of autonomy. Our commitment lies in developing and manufacturing LiDAR sensors that enhance autonomy and safety. Our lightweight, high-performing microLiDAR® sensors facilitate transformative applications across various sectors.
In drone-based operations, our LiDAR technology plays a pivotal role, enabling wildlife conservation, protecting communities from natural disasters, ensuring safer drone deliveries, and delivering life-saving vaccines and medications to hard-to-reach places.
By providing application-specific, professional-grade LiDAR sensors, we facilitate informed decision-making, streamline operations, reduce risks, and increase efficiency. Ultimately, our products contribute to the betterment of humanity by improving safety, efficiency, and sustainability through innovative technologies.
Commercial UAV News: Discuss how you work with clients who have drone-based operations for deliveries, mining, inspections, and other applications. How important have these collaborations been in improving your product and service offerings?
Nilsen: Collaborations with clients engaged in drone-based operations have been instrumental in shaping our product and service offerings. We are among the few LiDAR manufacturers offering a dedicated technical support helpdesk, ensuring the success of our customers. By closely engaging with clients in diverse sectors, we gain valuable insights into their unique use cases, challenges, and requirements. 
This feedback loop guides our development process, allowing us to fine-tune our microLiDAR® sensors to meet real-world demands effectively.
Through these collaborations, we've refined the performance characteristics of our LiDAR systems, ensuring they align seamlessly with the needs of drone-based operations. This iterative approach has not only improved the quality of our products but also solidified our commitment to delivering solutions that make a genuine difference in our customers' operations and various applications.
Commercial UAV News: You recently announced that you have extended the warranty on all of your products to 24 months. Why did you make this decision, and what impact will it have on drone-based work?
Nilsen: Quality, guided by ISO9001:2015, is one of the fundamental building blocks that LightWare LiDAR was built on, permeating throughout the entire organization. To solidify our belief that quality is an organization-wide imperative, we've also extended our ISO9001:2015 certification, already in place for the group's South African manufacturing operations, to our offshore subsidiary, LightWare LiDAR LLC.
Extending our product warranty to 24 months reflects our unwavering confidence in the durability and reliability of our microLiDAR® sensors. This decision was driven by our commitment to providing exceptional value to our customers and reinforcing our dedication to quality.
Being at the forefront of LiDAR technology, we are continually evolving to provide our customers with access to the latest industry advancements and highest quality products. But our mission extends beyond mere product development: we also aspire to create a seamless interaction between our users and the technology we provide.
The impact of this extended warranty is significant for drone-based operations. Drones operate in various environments, often facing challenging conditions. By extending the warranty, we offer our customers extended peace of mind, reducing potential downtime and maintenance costs. This, in turn, enhances the overall efficiency of drone-based operations, ensuring our technology remains a trusted and dependable asset.
Commercial UAV News: What’s next for LightWare? Are there new products or services in development?
Nilsen: The future for LightWare is incredibly exciting. We're continuously exploring ways to advance LiDAR technology and its applications, with a strong focus on refining our existing products while also delving into new avenues. Our development efforts are aimed at expanding our portfolio to cater to evolving industry needs.
We are currently developing products that offer longer measuring ranges in the same small form factor, supporting our customers wanting to integrate range-finding technology onto EO/IR gimbals. We plan to launch the first of this product family during Q2 of 2024.
In parallel, we are developing multi-beam products offering a wider field of view, which we believe will be a valuable solution for diverse applications such as obstacle detection, mapping landing areas for safe drone landings, safety around mining equipment and railway crossings, and even speed measurement of vehicles. We'll be making a beta version of this product available to select customers for testing purposes during Q3 of 2024.
While I can't disclose specific details just yet, I can assure you that LightWare is always pushing the limits of what is possible in an effort to bring innovative solutions to our customers. Keep a lookout on our website and newsletters for announcements about these exciting new products.
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