Velodyne Lidar Acquires Mapper.ai for ADAS Launch

Velodyne adds Mapper’s mapping and localization software to advance revolutionary lidar-centric ADAS

Velodyne Lidar, Inc. today announced it has acquired mapping and localization software as well as intellectual property assets from Mapper.ai. Mapper technology will enable Velodyne to accelerate development of Vella™, breakthrough software that establishes its directional view Velarray™ lidar sensor. The Velarray is the first solid-state Velodyne lidar sensor that is embeddable and fits behind a windshield, as an integral component for superior, more effective advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). 

Mapper’s entire leadership and engineering teams will join Velodyne, bolstering the company’s large and growing software development group. The new talent will augment the current software team of engineers working on Vella software, which will accelerate Velodyne’s production of powerful ADAS solutions. 

Velodyne’s ground-breaking solutions will allow customers to unlock advanced capabilities for ADAS features including pedestrian and bicycle avoidance, Lane Keep Assistance (LKA), Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), and Traffic Jam Assist (TJA) and more. 

“The goal in the automotive market is to make transportation safer. By adding Vella software to our broad portfolio of lidar technology, Velodyne is poised to revolutionize ADAS performance and safety,” says Anand Gopalan, CTO at Velodyne. “Expanding our team to develop Vella is a giant step towards achieving our goal of mass producing an ADAS solution that dramatically improves roadway safety. Mapper technology gives us access to some key algorithmic elements and accelerates our development timeline. Together, our sensors and software will allow powerful lidar-based safety solutions to be available on every vehicle.”

“Velodyne has both created the market for high-fidelity automotive lidar and established itself as the leader. We have been Velodyne customers for years and have already integrated their lidar sensors into easily deployable solutions for scalable high-definition mapping,” said Dr. Nikhil Naikal, founder and CEO of Mapper, who is joining Velodyne. “We are excited to use our technology to speed up Velodyne’s lidar-centric software approach to ADAS.” 

In addition to ADAS, Velodyne will incorporate Mapper technology into lidar-centric solutions for other emerging applications, including autonomous vehicles, last-mile delivery services, security, smart cities, smart agriculture, robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles.