Velodyne Signs Three-Year Supply Agreement with Baidu to Supply LiDAR Sensors for Apollo Program

According to foreign media reports, on October 12, local time, LiDAR manufacturer Velodyne announced a three-year supply agreement with Baidu to provide Baidu with Alpha Prime LiDAR sensors for autonomous driving applications. Velodyne's sensors are low-cost and have large production scales, thus providing an attractive price for Baidu and the Apollo project.

(Image source: Velodyne)

Baidu launched its self-driving taxi service in China, called Apollo Go, as part of Baidu's open source self-driving vehicle software platform, Apollo. The Alpha Prime lidar sensor was chosen for this type of self-driving car because of its long detection range, high resolution and wide field of view, which can meet the high performance requirements of self-driving vehicles. After all, high-quality 3D lidar sensors are an important component for self-driving vehicles to accurately perceive the surrounding environment.

Alpha Prime (Image credit: Velodyne)

The Alpha Prime LiDAR sensor uses 128 laser channels to generate millions of data points per second, continuously generating 3D LiDAR images of the vehicle's surroundings. In addition, the LiDAR sensor can detect objects, other vehicles and people that may cause collisions, allowing self-driving cars to drive on the road at different speeds and in various road conditions such as rain, sleet and snow, thereby improving the performance of self-driving cars.

Since 2016, Baidu has been one of Velodyne's strategic investors, and American automaker Ford is also one of the investors. Both companies have invested $75 million in Velodyne. Velodyne and Baidu are both committed to promoting autonomous driving and improving driving safety.

Velodyne's Alpha Prime lidar sensor is a next-generation lidar sensor that uses Velodyne's patented 360-degree surround view perception technology to support autonomous driving. After more than ten years of research and development and learning, Alpha Prime can support autonomous driving operations in various road environments such as cities and highways. Now, Velodyne has multiple production bases in the United States, Japan, and Thailand, which can mass-produce high-quality sensors to meet customer needs.