Velodyne Lidar Inc. announced it has acquired mapping and localization software as well as intellectual property assets from Mapper.ai. Mapper technology will enable Velodyne to accelerate its development of Vella, the company’s breakthrough software that establishes its directional view Velarray lidar sensor. The Velarray is the first solid-state Velodyne lidar sensor that is embeddable and fits behind a windshield, as an integral component for superior, more effective advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), according to Velodyne.
Mapper’s full leadership and engineering teams will join Velodyne, bolstering the company’s large and growing software development group. The new talent will augment the current software team of engineers working on Vella software, which will accelerate Velodyne’s production of powerful ADAS solutions.
Velodyne says its new solutions will allow customers to unlock advanced capabilities for ADAS features including pedestrian and bicycle avoidance, Lane Keep Assistance (LKA), Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Traffic Jam Assist (TJA) and more.
“The goal in the automotive market is to make transportation safer. By adding Vella software to our broad portfolio of lidar technology, Velodyne is poised to revolutionize ADAS performance and safety,” said Anand Gopalan, chief technology officer at Velodyne. “Expanding our team to develop Vella is a giant step toward achieving our goal of mass producing an ADAS solution that dramatically improves roadway safety. Mapper technology gives us access to some key algorithmic elements and accelerates our development timeline. Together, our sensors and software will allow powerful lidar-based safety solutions to be available on every vehicle.”
“Velodyne has both created the market for high-fidelity automotive lidar and established itself as the leader. We have been Velodyne customers for years and have already integrated their lidar sensors into easily deployable solutions for scalable high-definition mapping,” said Dr. Nikhil Naikal, founder and CEO of Mapper, who is joining Velodyne. “We are excited to use our technology to speed up Velodyne’s lidar-centric software approach to ADAS.”
In addition to ADAS, Velodyne will incorporate Mapper technology into lidar-centric solutions for other emerging applications, including autonomous vehicles, last-mile delivery services, security, smart cities, smart agriculture, robotics and unmanned aerial vehicles.
