Aeva Technologies, Inc. is an American hardware company specializing in optical perception systems. Based in Mountain View, California, it develops frequency-modulated continuous-wave lidar technology, known as FMCW. Unlike lidars that primarily calculate distance from the travel time of a light pulse, this approach also directly measures the radial velocity of observed points, meaning their movement toward or away from the sensor.
A company born out of sensor engineering
Aeva was founded in 2017 by Soroush Salehian and Mina Rezk, two engineers who previously worked at Apple. Their project aims to advance machine perception by bringing together optics, electronics and signal processing. In particular, the company seeks to integrate the essential lidar functions into a compact architecture suitable for larger-scale manufacturing.
Its stock market listing in 2021, achieved through a merger with a publicly listed acquisition company, provided it with resources to continue its development work. Since then, its trajectory has centered on moving from technology demonstrators to products that can be qualified and integrated by automotive manufacturers or industrial equipment suppliers.
From automotive lidar to industrial measurement
The core offering combines sensors, an integrated photonic architecture and perception software. The term “4D lidar,” used by Aeva, refers to the addition of velocity information to the three spatial dimensions. This data can help an automated system distinguish stationary objects from moving elements and track their changes over time. The coherent detection used in FMCW also aims to reduce sensitivity to certain types of light interference.
Unveiled in 2024, the Atlas sensor illustrates this automotive focus, with a design intended to facilitate integration into vehicles. In particular, Aeva announced in 2024 that it had been selected by Daimler Truck to supply lidars for its autonomous truck program, in which its subsidiary Torc Robotics is involved. These announcements relate to industrial programs whose realization depends on several stages of development and validation.
The company is also exploring non-contact measurement for industry. Its partnership with Nikon focuses on the use of its technology in metrology and inspection. This market draws on the same expertise in optics and signal processing, but has different requirements from those of automated driving.
What next?
For Aeva, the challenge is to turn its technological choices into lasting commercial deployments. This requires keeping costs, reliability, manufacturing and qualification timelines under control, while also supporting the software that uses the measurements. The timeline for autonomous vehicles itself remains dependent on technical, regulatory and economic constraints. Diversifying into industrial applications could broaden market opportunities without removing these execution requirements. The company will therefore need to demonstrate its ability to manufacture and deliver just as much as the performance of its sensors.