Solid-state LiDAR made its debut in China, with two senior executives attending. What will Velodyne reveal at this high-profile closed-door meeting? | CCF-GAIR 2018

It is no exaggeration to say that lidar accounts for half of the field of autonomous driving.

"When Others can't, LiDAR can." This statement by David Hall, founder of Velodyne, to a certain extent confirms the importance of LiDAR as the "eyes" of self-driving cars.

Velodyne has been with the autonomous driving industry for 11 years since David Hall invented the rotating lidar. The "big flower pot"-like object on the roof of the various autonomous driving prototypes we see is a 64-line lidar from Velodyne. But at the time, the unit price of this sensor was as high as $100,000, which made many companies reluctant to buy it.

Since receiving a total investment of US$150 million from Ford Motor and Baidu in mid-2016, Velodyne has been committed to reducing the cost of lidar by expanding new factories and adopting automated production lines to improve production efficiency, thereby reducing the price of this sensor.

In January this year, Velodyne released good news: the price of its most popular 16-line lidar product VLP-16 Puck was cut in half worldwide, from the previous price of US$7,999 to US$3,999.

The benefit of this price is that it greatly reduces the entry threshold of the autonomous driving market, especially low-speed autonomous driving scenarios. On the other hand, the wider market application of LiDAR is also worth looking forward to.

As the "number one player" in the field of lidar, Velodyne's products are now used in areas such as the automotive (mobile travel, autonomous driving) market, as well as drones, surveying and mapping, security, and industry. These are the application scenarios that Velodyne focuses on developing and expanding.

In the key applications of LiDAR, especially in autonomous driving, the industry has higher and higher requirements for the performance of LiDAR products. For Velodyne, delivering high-performance LiDAR products that meet customer needs is the driving force for this Silicon Valley LiDAR company to keep moving forward.

VLS-128 (128-line laser radar) and solid-state laser radar Velarray are the products of this motivation.

Taking advantage of the momentum of the 3rd CCF GAIR - 2018 Global Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Summit (June 29-July 1), Dr. Mircea Gradu, Senior Vice President and CQO of Velodyne LiDAR and Chairman of SAE 2018, will give a keynote speech at the main venue of CCF GAIR to discuss the issues that autonomous driving practitioners are most concerned about regarding lidar.

Mircea Gradu will be accompanied by two of Velodyne's flagship products: VLS-128 and Velarray. At the same time, Velodyne will also hold a high-level closed-door meeting on the first day of the CCF GAIR conference (time: 19:00-20:30 on June 29). At that time, senior experts from academia, government and enterprises will attend the closed-door seminar.

At the CCF GAIR exhibition area, Velodyne's 128-line LiDAR will be demonstrated publicly. Velodyne's first solid-state LiDAR Velarray will make its debut at a closed-door meeting - this is the first time that Velarray has conducted a small-scale public demonstration in the domestic market. After half a year of R&D adjustment and technical improvement, this solid-state LiDAR product, which represents the future trend, has a brand-new performance that is exciting.

Dr. Mircea Gradu, Senior Vice President and CQO of Velodyne LiDAR, and John Eggert, Global Director of Automotive Industry of Velodyne LiDAR, will speak at the closed-door meeting. Topics to be discussed include: how advanced applications of lidar drive autonomous driving and safety assurance; exploring the feasibility and technical potential of diversified applications of lidar in the domestic market through market application cases in North America and Europe, as well as in-depth research on domestic policies and technical specifications.

The guests who have confirmed their attendance at the closed-door meeting include:

• Zhang Bo, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of Tsinghua University;

• Deng Zhidong, professor of computer science at Tsinghua University and chairman of the CCF GAIR 2018 Intelligent Driving Forum;

• Zhang Yongwei, Secretary General of China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum;

• Zhou Luming, Director of the Innovation Center of China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum and CEO of Shenzhen Yuanchuangli Offshore Innovation Center;

• Teng Lei, Vice President of Shenzhen Yuanchuangli Offshore Innovation Center;

• Dr. Hu Jianping, Executive Vice President/Chief Expert of Urban Passenger Transport Branch of China Road Transport Association and Chairman of Hailiang Technology;

…

Activity process:

1. Speech by Mircea Gradu, Senior Vice President and CQO of Velodyne LiDAR;

2. Zhang Bo, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of Tsinghua University, delivered a speech;

3. John Eggert, global director of automotive industry at Velodyne LiDAR, gave a speech and demonstrated the solid-state LiDAR Velarray on site;

4. Deng Zhidong, professor of computer science at Tsinghua University and chairman of the CCF GAIR 2018 Intelligent Driving Forum, delivered a speech;

4. Roundtable discussion;

5. Ask questions and exchange ideas on site;

Activity time:

June 29, 2018 19:00-20:30

Activity scale:

50 people

Event Location:

JW Marriott Hotel Shenzhen Bao'an

Registration requirements:

• Practitioners in the fields of automobile (mobile travel, autonomous driving), drones, surveying and mapping, security, and industry;

• CCF GAIR VIP ticket holders;

• "New Intelligent Driving Membership Program" Pro members;

ways of registration:

To participate in the Velodyne closed-door meeting, click the link http://aimoccacadamy.mikecrm.com/MI6jhkR (or click the end of the article to read the original text) to submit relevant information . After the review is passed, we will inform you of the specific meeting address as soon as possible.

The high-end closed-door meeting will have stricter review, please be patient.

Velodyne announces that 128-line LiDAR is now available for pre-order in China, and chip design will be completed in the third quarter of this year