A switched optical phased array based beam steering LiDAR (light detection and ranging) system includes an integrated photonics optical phased array (OPA) that includes an optical switching network for selectively connecting a large number of 1D scanning (in a first direction or field-of-view) antenna arrays to a light source. Each array is configured to emit light in a predefined angle of a second direction or field-of-view and can be switched individually to connect to the light source. At any given time, the phase shifters of only one such array, i.e. the one that is switched to connect the light source, are actively adjusted by the control circuits, so that the active power consumption is greatly reduced. The LiDAR system also includes a photo sensor receiver, other control and signal processing circuits, and other necessary optical and mechanical components.