Erich has over 25 years of experience working with remote sensing, high precision navigation, and mobile safety systems in the aerospace, meteorological, automotive and mining industries. For the last ten years, he has played leading roles in LiDAR technology, bringing new solutions to the world through his work with Velodyne and Seyond. He joined LightIC Technologies in 2024 to lead operations in Europe for the next generation of FMCW lidar which is paving the way for the future of autonomous driving, industrial and robotics applications. LightIC Europe is located near Frankfurt and is building up staff to support their work in the European automotive and industrial sectors. This includes hiring technical sales, applications and support engineers.

The Pop in Your Job – What drives you? Why do you love your job?
I love bringing new technologies to the world that will benefit our lives! Lidar finally can do this as we introduce FMCW and solid state which will improve performance, decrease size, and decrease cost!

Founded in 2019 in Silicon Valley, LightIC is a global leader in FMCW (Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave) LiDAR technology, advancing automotive sensing with silicon photonics-based solutions. The company specializes in integrating “LiDAR on a chip,” delivering cost-efficient, high-performance systems for series production, and developing the future of long-range solid-state LiDAR utilizing FMCW+OPA (Optical Phased Array) technology. LightIC’s flagship product, LARK, offers unmatched sensing capabilities for autonomous vehicles, capturing real-time, point-by-point velocity information for precise distance and speed measurements. It is essential for ADAS features like AEB (Automatic Emergency Braking), as well as L3/L4/L5 autonomous driving providing true safety redundancy and advancing smarter, safer mobility. With proprietary technologies spanning silicon photonic chip design, hardware, and software, LightIC supports customization, enabling OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers to create groundbreaking smart driving solutions. Committed to shaping industry standards and promoting FMCW LiDAR adoption across multiple markets, LightIC collaborates with global automakers, Tier-1s, and integration partners solidifying its position as a pioneer in intelligent perception solutions. By delivering cutting-edge LiDAR technology, LightIC is paving the way for the future of autonomous driving, industrial and robotics applications.