Two months after emerging from stealth with $150 million in funding, Boston-based Teradar will unveil its first flagship terahertz sensor this week at the Consumer Electronics Show 2026. The company describes the sensor, called Summit, as the first long-range, high-resolution sensor of its kind, “designed for high performance under all types of weather conditions, filling a critical gap left by traditional radar and lidar sensors.”
If Teradar can lock down its contracts with automakers, the sensors are expected to begin shipping through 2028. Once that happens, the company hopes Summit will enable these companies to add partial or full self-driving capabilities to their vehicles.
Teradar’s entire approach is to exploit the relatively unused terahertz band of the electromagnetic spectrum between microwave and infrared radiation. It’s also a solid-state sensor, so there are no moving parts. All of this aims to give Teradar’s sensors the best quality of LiDAR and radar sensors, with few drawbacks.
This is a potentially attractive proposition for automakers who might balk at sacrificing the limitations of lidar and radar. Teradar said it is already working with five top automakers and three Tier 1 suppliers in the U.S. and Europe to demonstrate its technology.
Teradar’s impending market entry comes at a pivotal moment for automotive sensor suppliers. Luminar, a major U.S. lidar company, just filed for bankruptcy protection in December after contracts with Volvo and Mercedes-Benz fell apart as automakers pulled out of the technology.
According to Luminar, those deals also fell apart due in part to low-cost competition from China. Lidar adoption is booming in China’s auto market, with little sign of slowing down. Chinese lidar company Hesai announced in October that it has produced more than 1 million lidar sensors by 2025.
Other US companies in the space, such as Auster (which went through a wave of consolidation and merged with rival Velodyne), are diversifying into potential markets such as robotics and smart infrastructure.
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Teradar is looking beyond cars, and that vision is reflected in its recent funding. The $150 million Series B included funding from Lockheed Martin’s venture arm and VXI Capital, a new defense-focused fund led by the former chief technology officer of the U.S. Army’s Defense Innovation Unit.
However, LiDAR is not completely dead in the automotive industry. Rivian announced in December that it would incorporate roof-mounted lidar sensors (provided by an unnamed supplier) into its next R2 SUV, suggesting it still has an appetite for leveraging advanced sensor technology to bring autonomy to passenger cars, especially if it’s affordable.
Teradar CEO Matt Carey told TechCrunch in November that he believes the company’s terahertz sensor can meet all of these criteria, and seemed eager to jump on the opportunity.
“Our main job is to make sure that sensors are in every car, and whatever the best way to do that is, that’s what we’re going to pursue,” he said.
