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Merger of Velodyne and Ouster creates $550 million lidar giant

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Velodyne and Ouster have merged to create what could be described as a “lidar giant” at a time when interest in lidar – light detection and ranging – sensors are at an all-time high because of their applications in so many robotic and automated machines. 

Ouster and Velodyne describe their successful deal as a “merger of equals”. The combined company will keep the name Ouster and continue to trade on New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “OUST”. The two companies have a combined market capitalization of more than $550 million.

The merger creates a lidar powerhouse with over 850 customers spanning the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart infrastructure industries supported by a robust product portfolio of innovative hardware and software solutions in addition to top-tier engineering and commercial teams. [Read more…] about Merger of Velodyne and Ouster creates $550 million lidar giant

Velodyne Lidar signs multi-year agreement with Boston Dynamics

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Velodyne Lidar has agreed a multi-year contract for its lidar sensors with Boston Dynamics, a developer of mobile robotics.

Boston Dynamics selected Velodyne’s sensors to provide perception and navigation capabilities for its highly mobile robots, which are capable of tackling the “toughest robotics challenges”.

Velodyne’s lidar sensor solutions enable mobile robots to operate autonomously and safely, without human intervention. They provide real-time 3D perception data for localization, mapping, object classification and object tracking. [Read more…] about Velodyne Lidar signs multi-year agreement with Boston Dynamics

‘RoboRace’ autonomous racing selects Velodyne Lidar

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RoboRace, the world’s first autonomous car racing series, has selected Velodyne as the official lidar sensor provider in its next generation vehicles.

RoboRace will use Velodyne‘s solid-state Velarray H800 sensors in its electric-powered autonomous race cars for the Season One championship series, which is set to begin in 2022.

The Velodyne and RoboRace engineering teams have been working collaboratively on the race car development project. [Read more…] about ‘RoboRace’ autonomous racing selects Velodyne Lidar

Velodyne to provide its lidar sensors to Renu Robotics

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Velodyne Lidar has reached a multi-year agreement to provide its Puck lidar sensors to Renu Robotics, an industry leader in autonomous vegetation management systems.

Renu Robotics’ Renubot, a fully autonomous, all-electric mower, helps solar and energy facilities cut costs, time and carbon emissions, while maintaining the grounds for maximum performance of the facility.

Renu Robotics selected the Puck after a competitive product review. The company found that Velodyne’s Puck offered superior quality, reliability and performance, including significantly less system interference for optimal positional accuracy. [Read more…] about Velodyne to provide its lidar sensors to Renu Robotics

ANYbotics boosts autonomous mobile robots with Velodyne lidar sensors

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ANYbotics is equipping its autonomous mobile robots with Velodyne’s Puck lidar sensors. ANYbotics robots provide industrial operators with an automated robotic inspection solution to support efforts in monitoring and maintaining plants.

ANYbotics’ four-legged robot ANYmal performs inspection and monitoring tasks in challenging industrial terrains such as mining and minerals, oil and gas, chemicals, energy and construction.

ANYmal’s legs provide unparalleled mobility when moving up and down stairs, climbing over obstacles, steps and gaps, and crawling into tight spaces. ANYmal’s inspection payload provides visual, thermal and acoustic insights for condition monitoring of equipment and infrastructure. [Read more…] about ANYbotics boosts autonomous mobile robots with Velodyne lidar sensors

Clearpath Robotics partners with Velodyne to integrate sensors into research vehicles

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Clearpath Robotics has become a value-add partner to offer Velodyne’s lidar sensors for the Clearpath research robot platform.

Clearpath Robotics, headquartered in Canada, offers Velodyne sensors to academic and corporate research organizations on its mobile robots for survey and inspection, oil and gas, agriculture, materials
handling and other applications.

Clearpath’s robotic solutions utilize Velodyne’s state-of-the-art lidar technology, which boasts industry-leading resolution, range, and field of view. Velodyne sensors create a 360° real-time map of the environment, allowing the robot to detect and avoid obstacles for safe autonomous navigation.  [Read more…] about Clearpath Robotics partners with Velodyne to integrate sensors into research vehicles

Velodyne Lidar sensors enable Postmates autonomous delivery rover

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Postmates has included Velodyne Lidar’s intelligent, versatile lidar technology in its innovative self-driving rovers for short-distance deliveries, Postmates Serve.

Equipped with Velodyne’s compact, powerful lidar sensor, Serve combines autonomy and emission-free robotics for movement of goods in cities.

Serve’s architecture includes Velodyne’s VLP-16 Puck sensor, which has been designed into the rover. The VLP-16 Puck is built into the top of the rover for a high-performance surround view, enabling Serve to detect people and objects as it completes local deliveries.

[Read more…] about Velodyne Lidar sensors enable Postmates autonomous delivery rover

Velodyne Lidar sensors power ThorDrive’s autonomous driving pilot

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ThorDrive, an autonomous vehicle (AV) startup, is introducing commercial vehicle services in the first of many pilots in the USA.

The initial service, in partnership with Hassett ACE Hardware, will support selected residents and fire departments in Palo Alto, California, with plans to expand to additional pilots soon.

The ThorDrive platform is using Velodyne’s lidar sensors to provide rich data content for its AV software.

[Read more…] about Velodyne Lidar sensors power ThorDrive’s autonomous driving pilot