How It Works
LiDAR
Light Detection and Ranging: a sensor that fires laser pulses and times their reflections to build a 3D map of its surroundings. Self-driving cars, robots, drones and some phones use it to measure distance precisely, including in the dark.
Origin · no single documented coiner
The technique dates to the early 1960s, soon after the laser was invented; the name was formed on the model of “radar.” It has no single coiner.