Ford and Baidu invest in Velodyne LiDAR with an eye on autonomous vehicles

LIDARtechnology company Velodyne LiDAR has announced a $150 million investment from Ford Motor Company and Chinese search engine giant Baidu that will enable the company to rapidly expand its design and production of automotive LiDAR sensors, with an eye on accelerating mass adoption in autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) applications.

Over the past decade, Velodyne has developed four generations of hybrid solid-state LiDAR systems, incorporating the company’s proprietary software and algorithms that interpret data gathered from the environment via laser-based sensors that create 3D images used for mapping, localization, object identification and collision avoidance, according to the press release. Velodyne’s LIDAR products are capable of producing 300,000 to 2.2 million data points/s with a range of up to 200 m at centimeter-level accuracy.

"LiDAR continues to prove itself as the critical sensor for safe autonomous vehicle operation," said David Hall, founder and CEO, Velodyne LiDAR. "This investment will accelerate the cost reduction and scaling of Velodyne’s industry-leading LiDAR sensors, making them widely accessible and enabling mass deployment of fully autonomous vehicles. We are determined to help improve the goal of safety for automotive vehicles as soon as possible, as well as empower the efficiency autonomous systems offer."

Raj Nair, Ford Executive Vice President, Product Development and Chief Technical Officer, also commented. “From the very beginning of our autonomous vehicle program, we saw LiDAR as key enabler due to its sensing capabilities and how it complements radar and cameras. Ford has a long-standing relationship with Velodyne and our investment is a clear sign of our commitment to making autonomous vehicles available for consumers around the world.”

Baidu also shares Velodyne’s vision to ultimately promote safety for autonomous vehicles globally, and China in particular, where Baidu is already testing a fleet of autonomous vehicles.

"Baidu is developing autonomous vehicles with the intention to increase passenger safety and reduce traffic congestion and pollution in China," said Jing Wang, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Autonomous Driving Unit of Baidu. "Our investment will accelerate our efforts in autonomous driving with what, in our view, are the best LiDAR sensors available today and advance Velodyne’s development of increasingly sophisticated LiDAR sensors."

View the press release.

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