Ford Motor and Baidu, one of China’s premier search engines, have made a joint investment of $150 million in Velodyne LiDAR – a supplier of the technology that could create self-driving cars.
The investment was made in order to help Velodyne find ways of lowering the costs of producing the technology, which involves expensive light-sensitive radars that allow cars to see a 3D version of their surroundings for up to 200 meters at all times.
Velodyne was already able to lower the cost of its technology from $80,000 to $8,000. However, once the company focuses on mass production, Velodyne expects that the price would be much lower thanks to the R&D investments of both Ford and Baidu. [Read more…] about Ford, Baidu invest in company that produces tech for self-driving cars
