Lidar developer Velodyne has announced that its Automated with Velodyne (AwV) program now has 100 partner companies working to commercialize next-generation autonomous solutions, using its lidar sensors and software.
As the lidar ecosystem continues to grow, deepening the technology’s deployment in industrial, robotics, infrastructure, automotive and more, collaboration is an excellent example of how the AwV ecosystem is advancing the industry, Velodyne states.
“Automated with Velodyne is the future of lidar integration and the ecosystem is essential to implementing everyday solutions,” said Sally Frykman, CMO at Velodyne. “Achieving the 100-partner mark confirms that the world’s leading innovators see the enormous value that Velodyne’s technology and marketing prowess brings to their business. We are excited to work with such an elite group of pacesetting companies, both to raise their visibility as well as help them tap the huge growth potential for lidar-based solutions.”
Velodyne says that AwV partners, including the likes of Nvidia and Siemens, are enabling lidar to play a critical role in driving safety and efficiency in a broad range of customer environments.
For example, solutions designed with Velodyne and Nvidia technologies provide critical edge computing for robotics, smart cities and AV operation. In addition, Velodyne has joined the Nvidia Metropolis program, which aims to bring to market a new generation of AI vision solutions to make our public spaces and workplace operations safer and more efficient.
“Velodyne is a valued Nvidia Metropolis partner and their lidar systems, along with Nvidia GPU-accelerated computing at the edge, deliver the real-time perception and AI needed as we increasingly automate the world’s most important spaces and processes,” said Adam Scraba, director of product marketing, Nvidia. “Cities like Austin, Texas, are already implementing our combined efforts to better assess traffic conditions in real time and identify proactive safety measures to help save lives.”
Siemens, meanwhile, offers software solutions to develop, test and validate industrial, AV and ADAS systems that use Velodyne’s lidar sensors. Siemens’ technology creates a simulated environment that helps companies monitor their autonomous applications in a virtual world before moving to physical proving grounds.
“We are using Velodyne’s lidar technology to build physics-based sensor models for our simulation software to test and optimize autonomous solutions,” said Martijn Schut, head of product management, Siemens Digital Industries Software. “Our systems provide companies with simulation and digital twin tools that accelerate the integration of Velodyne’s sensors into solutions that advance autonomy and safety. The combination of lidar and simulation creates an ideal gateway for companies to transform themselves to digital enterprises.”