Velodyne Lidar, one of the leaders in developing lidar systems for autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), said today it will showcase its latest systems at next week’s Automated Vehicles Symposium in Orlando, Fla. The company also announced that Idriverplus, one of the first companies in China to commercialize driverless technology and bring it to mass production, is using Velodyne’s lidar sensors in a range of products.
At the Orlando event, Velodyne said it will show off the Alpha Puck, a lidar sensor specifically made for autonomous driving and advanced vehicle safety at highway speeds, and the directional view Velodyne Velarray, a component for ADAS. The company said its sensors deliver a combination of long range, high resolution, and wide field of view.
Velodyne’s Alpha Puck sensor.
In a symposium session, Vidya Devarasetty, Velodyne’s global automotive sales and business development manager, will present “High-Definition 3D Lidars: An Integral Part of Future Autonomous Driving.” The session will give an overview of how lidar sensors are used for the specific tasks of autonomous driving, including “use cases that have proven elusive for solutions based on camera and radar,” the company said.
“Over 90% of accidents are caused by human error according to U.S. government data,” said Devarasetty. “These accidents can be avoided if vehicles are equipped with forward facing lidar sensors, which provide accurate measurement of objects on the road and in all weather conditions.”
In another session, Frank Bertini, UAV and robotics business manager, will present “State of Solid-State 3D Lidar.” The technical presentation will discuss how the company’s solid-state lidar application-specific integrated microchips (ASIC) provided a breakthrough in 3D lidar sensor design.
“The core lidar electronics are moving from a printed circuit board to an ASIC, which provides advantages such as higher density, lower cost, and improved reliability,” said Bertini. “The trend roughly follows Moore’s Law, leading to dramatic decreases in size, weight, and cost over relatively short time periods.”
The Idriverplus fleet of autonomous vehicles. Image: Business Wire
Idriverplus partnership
Velodyne said its partnership with Idriverplus will help the company in its efforts for mass production of commercial autonomous vehicles, which includes street cleaners, passenger cars, and logistics vehicles. The sensors are being used in all of Idriverplus’ vehicles, giving computer perception data for real-time object and free space detection.
Idriverplus CEO Dr. Zhang Dezhao Image: Business Wire
“We have a vision for the future that autonomous driving is not only a means of transportation, but also a necessity of live,” said Dr. Zhang Dezhao, CEO of Idriverplus. “Lidar is indispensable in our development of autonomous driving technology.”
The company’s street cleaning vehicle, named Viggo, is an unmanned electric solution that intelligently sweeps roads. During the cleaning process, Viggo can automatically track and avoid obstacles, and monitor real-time vehicle information. The company said more than 100 units are operating at universities, factories, parks, amusement parks, and city streets in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hebei, Zhejiang, Henan, Hunan, and other provinces and cities in China. The company also has partnerships in Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia, and other Asian regions.
Idriverplus is developing two commercial autonomous car systems – an SAE Level 4 vehicle that provides autonomous driving in closed parks and some public roads; and an ADAS solution for automatic parking and highway follow-up.
