Optimus Ride, a self-driving vehicle technology startup that spun out of MIT in 2015, will use Velodyne‘s lidar sensors in its entire fleet. Optimus Ride is currently testing its vehicles in Massachusetts and New York, and it will soon be testing in California and Virginia. Optimus Ride’s all-electric shuttles move at slow speeds, maxing out…
Velodyne sues 2 Chinese rivals for lidar patent infringement
Velodyne, the world’s largest lidar developer, has filed patent infringement complaints against Hesai and Suteng (also known as RoboSense). The complaints were filed Aug. 13 to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The majority of autonomous vehicle companies rely on lidar, and the San Jose-based company said the two Chinese…
Velodyne Puck 32MR Lidar designed for drones & mobile robots
The Velodyne Lidar Puck 32MR is designed for low-speed autonomy, including mobile robots and drones. | Credit: Velodyne Lidar Velodyne Lidar has introduced the Puck 32MR sensor to offer a perception solution for low-speed autonomous markets, including robotics, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Velodyne said the solution is “cost effective,” but interested parties will have…
Velodyne Lidar acquires Mapper.ai for advanced driver assistance systems
Velodyne said it is adding Mapper.ai mapping and localization software to advance its revolutionary lidar-centric advanced driver-assistance systems.
SiLC takes modular, FMCW approach to lidar for self-driving cars, robots
SiLC is building lidar systems that get extra information out of photons while being safer for humans.
Luminar raises $100M to scale LiDAR for autonomous vehicles
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Luminar raised $100 million in funding that will help it scale production of LiDAR sensors for autonomous vehicles. This raises Luminar’s total amount of funding raised to more than $250 million. Luminar also unveiled a sensing and perception platform called Iris that has been in stealth development for the last three years.…
Analog Devices, First Sensor co-developing LiDAR sensors
Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) and First Sensor AG have announced a partnership to develop products aimed at speeding the launch of autonomous sensing technology serving unmanned automotive, aerial and underwater vehicles in transportation, smart agriculture, industrial manufacturing and other industries. As part of the collaboration, Analog Devices and First Sensor are developing offerings that shrink…
Cornell’s ‘pseudo-lidar’ advances vision-based, 3D object recognition for autonomous driving
Cornell University researchers have developed a way of using low-cost, stereo cameras to allow self-driving cars to detect 3D objects with a range and accuracy approaching that of lidar.
Self-driving car startup Aurora acquires Blackmore for Doppler lidar tech
Which is better for self-driving cars — multiple sensors including lidar, or cameras? Aurora Innovation is betting on Doppler lidar innovator Blackmore Sensors and Analytics.
Velodyne Lidar partners with Nikon to mass-produce cheaper lidar sensors
Velodyne said it is working with Nikon to mass-produce lidar sensors, which could lower their prices and help developers of robots, drones, and self-driving cars.
Researchers back Tesla’s non-LiDAR approach to self-driving cars
If you haven’t heard, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is not a LiDAR fan. Most companies working on autonomous vehicles – including Ford, GM Cruise, Uber and Waymo – think LiDAR is an essential part of the sensor suite. But not Tesla. Its vehicles don’t have LiDAR and rely on radar, GPS, maps and other…
Waymo LiDAR sensor now available for robotics companies
Many have wondered about the revenue model for Waymo, the self-driving car unit of Alphabet. Here’s one approach: get into the sensor business. Waymo announced today its custom LiDAR sensors is available to customers that don’t compete with its robo-taxi business. The news was first reported by Bloomberg. Waymo said it will initially target robotics,…
AEye raises $40M for long-range LiDAR
AEye, a California-based startup, has raised $40 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round. This brings AEye’s total funding to date to about $61 million. The Series B was led by Taiwania Capital, the investment firm created and backed by Taiwan’s National Development Council. The round also includes multiple global automotive OEMs, Tier 1s, and Tier 2s…
Super-Sophisticated MEMS Mirrors Could Bring Super-Capable Lidar
The digital micromirrors that make possible solid-state scanning lidar may soon give way to more capable MEMS devices able to do much more than just beam a laser across a scene. Leland Teschler | Executive Editor The Digital Micromirror Devices (DMD) now used for video projection also play an important role in autonomous vehicle technology.…
GM picks up lidar dev Strobe
General Motors last week purchased Pasadena, Calif.-based startup Strobe and its laser-based lidar imaging technology, according to an LA Times report. Lidar technology is an essential part of autonomous vehicle’s navigation platforms, and allow for identifying objects and avoiding collisions, but has been costly and kept self-driving cars from seeing larger deployment, according to GM…
NaviPack announces the release of the most affordable and Useful LiDAR navigation module for drones, robots and autonomous devices
NaviPack is proud to announce the release of a groundbreaking product for autonomous control of drones, robots, and other devices. The low cost, ease of use, and pure utility of the NaviPack LiDAR navigation module makes integrating control for vehicles and robots easier and cheaper than ever before. What makes NaviPack different from other LiDAR systems begins […]
Two LiDAR makers each get big funding
In anticipation of the need for LiDAR devices in cars with assisted steering and other self-driving technologies, both Velodyne and Quarnergy received funding. Quanergy raised $90 million and Velodyne got $150 million. As can be seen in the chart provided by Frost & Sullivan, LiDARs will play a big role in all phases of the emergence…
Velodyne LIDAR
LIDAR finds a lost city in Cambodia
Using LIDAR technology to create terrain maps, archaeologists have uncovered a whole city in Cambodia by discovering unexplained “bumps”. Instead of using maps and sifting through slowly unfolding digs, with this new tech researchers can see whole cities at a time and determine where best to begin. In Cambodia, where unexploded land mines from previous…
What slowdown? – December 2022 robotics investments reach $1.14B
December 2022’s 55 robotics investments totaled US $1.14B, a 7.7% increase over December 2021’s funding total.
Editor’s Picks: best robots of CES 2023
Robots were everywhere at CES 2023. Mike Oitzman highlights some of his favorite robots he saw in Las Vegas.
Seoul Robotics releases 3D perception software SENSR 3.0
Seoul Robotics introduced SENSR 3.0, the most advanced iteration of the SENSR 3D perception platform to deliver increased ease of use.