With population density on the rise within urban areas around the globe, traffic is becoming increasingly difficult to manage. Given these circumstances, it is understandable why self-driving cars have been a buzzword in the tech world for quite some time. The key component for achieving this goal is LiDAR, as it maps the environment and detects other objects in the car’s proximity. Being this fantastic solution for autonomous cars, developers of LiDAR are incentivized with large investments to make breakthroughs in this field.
Although multiple companies are exploring ways to optimize LiDAR performance, the requirement for high-quality optical components is almost universal in any approach. One such company is Velodyne LiDAR, and here we will shed some light on how they tackle the problem of geovisualization.
Velodyne’s History
Velodyne was founded by David Hall in 1983. However, they started as a company that specializes in the design and production of the subwoofer. It was only in the year 2004 that the company started to experiment with sensors technology for autonomous vehicles. In the year 2005, David came up with the first real-time 3D LiDAR, and in 2006 they began mass production making products commercially available.
In 2012 Velodyne’s LiDAR tech was used on off-road vehicles, and in 2016 the product called Ultra Puck was released as the first surround view with a range of 200m. David received an innovator of the year award in 2018, and in 2019 Velodyne LiDAR won a patent challenge for real-time surround view tech. The company continues to innovate and to push the boundaries of LiDAR technology. The disruptive tech definitely caught the eye of multiple investors like Nikon, among others, who are now strategic partners in this endeavor.
Velodyne’s Products
In terms of LiDAR tech, Velodyne boasts a decent selection of navigation assistance products. Due to their long term commitment to this field and prior success, companies like Ford and Mercedes decided to improve their vehicle's by leveraging Velodyne’s tech. Here are some of the more notable products from their list:
Alpha Prime™ - This is one of the more recent products and it provides a great combination of range, image clarity, and field of view. It’s probably one of the best LiDARs on the market today. In fact, the reliability and precision of this model should serve as a reassurance to all that entirely autonomous traffic is not that far away.
Ultra Puck™ - Ultra Puck is almost as impressive as Alpha Prime, its horizontal and vertical resolution make it a favorite model for the purposes of the robotic industry, mapping, driver assistance, and security.
HDL-64E - This is one of the first LiDAR sensors that made Velodyne famous. Its purpose was to aid autonomous ground vehicles as well as marine vessels, as it was designed to give accurate obstacle detection within a 360° field of view, which made it ideal for mapping.
Now that we have covered both history and product capability, let’s see what all of this can mean in practice.
How Can We Use LiDAR?
As we have already covered, LiDAR can be used for navigation of vehicles, avoiding collision, and autonomous driving. However, there are more uses, like for the purposes of law enforcement. LiDAR makes it easier to enforce the speed limits, to record or reconstruct the crime scene, thereby preserving the evidence, and also collecting the evidence. Before we used to rely on chemicals to uncover fingerprints, today we can also scan the surface using this tech. Of course, there are also various uses in surveying the land but that is a topic unto itself and might require a different type of LiDAR.
Businesses like Drover can also implement LiDAR in their service. Who knows maybe we will have rideshare options that include autonomous driving soon? Given the LiDAR’s accuracy, we can also get a more precise rideshare estimate or even rideshare cost estimator. One thing is certain, the technology will definitely add an additional layer of safety to such a business model. Furthermore, it will be more convenient to do rideshare delivery since the entire process will be automated and communicated through your smartphone.
Velodyne’s Business Development
One of the best ways to give credence to the quality of Velodyne’s technology is to showcase the financial support they received. One of the more notable developments is the merger between Velodyne and Graf Industrial Corp., a company that has a market value of 1.8 billion dollars. Moreover, thanks to the private investment, Velodyne was able to raise 150 million dollars. The merger is supposed to be finalized during the third quarter of 2020.
This also means that Velodyne is going to be a publicly-traded company, which gives them a more competitive edge on the autonomous vehicle market. Since the market is already filled with both tech giants and startups, a development like this is to be expected, as there is simply not enough room for everyone. Some of the startups have already been assimilated into larger companies, and others simply dropped out of the race. Additionally, a lot of automakers decided to focus their attention and resources into more advanced driver assistance systems.
Over the past few years, Velodyne’s main focus was on creating a more competitive product on the market by reducing the price of its LiDAR products. They also wanted to go beyond autonomous driving and created sensors that can be implemented on small industrial robots.
Clearly, Velodyne is not the only company with a goal of dominating the LiDAR industry, but it’s certainly one of the main players out there. It’s history, success, and ability to adapt to this competitive landscape further exemplify this point. Overall this type of pressure usually results in higher quality products in a shorter time frame. It is a race we should all be excited about as the final outcome is enhanced traffic safety.
