Optics & Imaging · Recorded milestone
Lidar
Recorded year1961
Laser range-finding, soon used to measure the Moon's distance, later steers robotaxis.
Explore this milestone on the interactive mapBuilt on
- LaserRecorded · 1960enables
Led to
- Nationwide laser height mapRecorded · 2003enables
- Self-driving car challengeRecorded · 2005enables
- Airborne forest lidarRecorded · 2010enables
- Wind lidar from spaceRecorded · 2018enables
- Driverless robotaxi serviceRecorded · 2020enables
- Lidar in phonesRecorded · 2020enables
- Eyes-off self-driving carRecorded · 2021enables
- Solid-state lidarForecast · ~2027enables
Sources & evidence
Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.