Velodyne Lidar Launches Vella Development Kit for Building Autonomous Driving Solutions

On July 29, lidar manufacturer Velodyne Lidar announced the launch of a new software development kit: Vella Development Kit (VDK), which allows customers to use the advanced features of Velodyne's Vella lidar perception software in their autonomous driving solutions, helping companies speed up time to market and introduce advanced lidar features to autonomous vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), mobile delivery equipment, industrial robots and drones, etc.

(Image source: Velodyne Lidar)

By reducing the time and effort required to integrate 3D lidar sensors into applications, the VDK helps companies use their development resources more efficiently. The Vella processing capabilities in the VDK convert raw point cloud data into richer, more descriptive information in real time. These higher-level perception outputs, such as object classification, velocity measurement, semantic scene segmentation, and obstacle detection, can be used directly by autonomous driving system developers without the need for deep expertise in lidar processing.

Powered by machine learning algorithms trained on massive data sets built by Velodyne, Vella’s perception capabilities support many current operational design areas for autonomous driving, such as urban roads, highways, sidewalks, and warehouses. The VDK is designed to leverage the capabilities of Velodyne’s latest solid-state Velarray H800 and Velarray M1600 lidar sensors, and supports additional sensors added with each release. Customers with active maintenance subscriptions will have access to all future versions of the VDK, which will continue to be updated with the latest hardware support and processing capabilities required by Vella.

“The Vella Development Kit supports customers throughout the entire autonomous driving solution development lifecycle, from testing and evaluating sensors, to building initial proofs of concept, to demonstrating complete applications,” said Vishal Jain, vice president of software engineering for Velodyne LiDAR. “The VDK enables developers and integrators to see the world in a whole new way, with constant access to the latest innovations, by connecting to Vella’s complete and powerful array of perception capabilities. The VDK demonstrates Velodyne’s strength in delivering revolutionary sensors and software that enable companies to create autonomous driving solutions that deliver safer mobility and improve lives.”

In the future, Velodyne plans to expand the Vella Development Kit with two additional versions. VDK Lite will be priced lower and will provide a smaller, but very important set of processing functions. VDK Enterprise will provide a full range of design customization, new feature development and support services for the most demanding customer applications.