MORGAN HILL, Calif. (June 30, 2014) Its just down the road, that future in which you wont need to worry about navigating the road itself. Driving as we know it is about to take a sharp turn.
At CE Weeks Connected Car Conference in New York on June 24, Velodyne LiDAR a pioneer in autonomous vehicle technology weighed in on where were all headed, how soon well get there and what the experience may be like. As automotive tech journalist Chuck Tannert put it, its not a question of if but when well be able to let go of the wheel in our cars and have technology take over the task of driving. Automakers are already selling vehicles with partial autonomous capability, and fully autonomous cars are coming. But what will it take from a technology as well as a legal and consumer-acceptance perspective to make self-driving cars ready for sale and for the road?
Along with representatives of Delphi Labs, NVIDIA, Continental and Volvo, Wolfgang Juchmann, PhD., Director of Sales & Marketing, Velodyne LiDAR, weighed in on a possible roadmap to a self-driving future: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=9h_UwmTES7Q#t=51.
According to Juchmann, its not only the technology or software we are talking about its peoples perceptions. There has to be a switch in perception from the car companies themselves and from the consumer. Currently everybody is in exploration mode, but eventually there will be common technology — something will crystallize.
For fully autonomous vehicles, most likely three sensors will be required for redundancy and to complement each other, Juchmann said. One will be dedicated to vision, for red/green traffic light detection. Another, to radar, an inexpensive solution for long distance measurements. And the third, to LiDAR, providing high spatial resolution with full 3D information in real time. The combination of the three sensors together will create the redundancy that enables the car to be in charge of things.
Velodyne LiDAR is the name to know in autonomous vehicle technology. The company is recognized worldwide for developing high-definition LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors for autonomous vehicle applications, including 3D mapping and surveying. The companys real-time HDL 3D LiDAR sensor family is the sensor for assisted or autonomous driving. Velodynes sensor is used by virtually every car manufacturer and tier 1 supplier in the business, as well as a few players outside the established car business, like Google, with the latest iteration of its self-driving car one that has neither a steering wheel nor a gas pedal.
About VelodyneLiDAR
Founded in 1983 and based in Californias Silicon Valley, Velodyne Acoustics, Inc. is a diversified technology company known worldwide for its high-performance audio equipment and real-time LiDAR sensors. The companys LiDAR division evolved after founder and inventor David Hall competed in the 2004-05 DARPA Grand Challenge using stereovision technology. Based on his experience during this challenge, Hall recognized the limitations of stereovision and developed the HDL64 high-resolution LiDAR sensor.More recently, Velodyne has released its smaller, lightweight HDL32E sensor, available for many applications including UAVs. Since 2007, Velodynes LiDAR division has emerged as a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of real-time LiDAR sensor technology used in a variety of commercial applications including autonomous vehicles, vehicle safety systems, 3D mobile mapping, 3D aerial mapping and security. For more information, visitwww.velodynelidar.com. For the latest information on new products and to receive Velodynes newsletter, register here.
Media Contacts
Ken Greenberg
Edge Communications, Inc.
(323) 469-3397
ken@edgecommunicationsinc.com
Wolfgang Juchmann, Ph.D.
Director of Sales & Marketing, Velodyne LiDAR
(408) 465-2802
wjuchmann@velodyne.com