ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

CLidar

Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a bat use echolocation to "see" in the dark? Well, CLIDAR is kinda like that. It's a technology that uses lasers to bounce light off things and then measure the time it takes for the light to come back.

Just like when a bat sends out sound waves and listens for the echo to determine the shape and location of objects, CLIDAR uses the echoes of laser light to create a 3D map of the environment.

This can be really helpful for things like self-driving cars, where they need to "see" what's around them to avoid crashing into things. It can also be used to study things like weather patterns, air quality, and even how forests and vegetation are growing.

So, just think of CLIDAR as a super high-tech way of "seeing" things using laser echoes. Pretty cool, huh?