An Interview with Innoviz CEO Omer Keilaf about current LiDAR market dynamics

Innoviz CEO Omer Keilaf believes the LIDAR market is down to its final players—and that Innoviz has already won its seat.

In this conversation, we cover the Level 4 gold rush sparked by Waymo, why stalled Level 3 programs are suddenly accelerating, the technical moat that separates L4-grade LIDAR from everything else, how a one-year-old startup won BMW, and why Keilaf thinks his competitors are already out of the race.

Omer Keilaf founded Innoviz in 2016. Today it's a publicly traded Tier 1 supplier to BMW, Volkswagen, Daimler Truck, and other global OEMs.

Chapters
  00:00 Introduction
  00:17 Why Start a LIDAR Company in 2016?
  01:32 The Personal Story Behind Innoviz
  03:12 Transportation Is Still Our Biggest Daily Risk
  04:28 The 2012 Spark: Xbox Kinect and 3D Sensing
  06:32 From Mobile to Automotive: Finding the Right Platform
  07:54 "I Didn't Know What LIDAR Was, But I'd Do It Better"
  08:19 How a One-Year-Old Startup Won BMW
  10:04 Surviving the First Product
  11:23 From Tier 2 to Tier 1: The Volkswagen Win
  13:47 Lessons Learned Scaling Through Partners
  14:45 The SPAC Decision: A Wake-Up Call from a Competitor
  16:42 From 200 LIDAR Companies to a Handful
  17:27 NREs: How Tier 1 Status Funds R&D
  18:44 Why Automotive-First Is the Right Strategy
  19:45 Consolidation Patterns: Cameras, Radars, Airbags
  20:31 "The Music Has Stopped"
  21:07 Non-Automotive: Underserved Markets
  23:51 Working with Secretive OEMs
  25:27 The Press Release They Tried to Stop
  26:42 CES 2025: 85% of Meetings Were Level 4
  27:40 Why Level 3 Programs Are Suddenly Accelerating
  28:33 The EV/ADAS Coupling Problem
  29:49 Design Is Everything: The Holy Grail Is Behind the Windshield
  31:13 The Three-Year RFQ: Grill → Roof → Windshield
  32:32 Innoviz3: Small Enough for Behind-the-Windshield
  34:40 Innoviz2 for L4, Innoviz3 for Consumer L3
  36:38 What's the Real Difference Between L2, L3, and L4 LIDAR?
  38:51 The Mud Test: Why L4 Demands 100% Availability
  40:50 "We're the Only LIDAR Designed for Level 4"
  42:52 Patents and the Maslow Pyramid of Autonomy
  44:15 Non-Automotive Markets: Agriculture, Mining, Security
  46:15 Closing