February 14, 2019 The Velodyne Lidar Puck Industry leaders rely on accurate, dependable data created by Velodyne lidar technology to provide the highest performing mapping systems in a compact solution. Lidar News recently featured how Paracosm addresses the market need for a robust handheld scanner that can capture a variety of environments and operate both… Continue reading Velodyne Powers World’s First Handheld Lidar Scanner with Color Data
Author: Velodyne LIDAR Official News
8 Ways Lidar Brings Mobile Robots to Life
February 6, 2019 Knightscope autonomous security robot with a Velodyne Lidar Puck, image courtesy of Knightscope The landscape of robotics business applications is evolving. Robots are being called upon to handle a broader variety of tasks. They are expanding beyond roles as stationary workhorses in areas such as manufacturing to become mobile machines that address a wider array of… Continue reading 8 Ways Lidar Brings Mobile Robots to Life
How Lidar Revolutionized the Way We See the World
How Lidar Revolutionized the Way We See the WorldFebruary 1, 2019|In Blog|By Albie Jarvis
An Interview with Todd Neff, author of
The Laser That’s Changing the World
Todd Neff’s The Laser That’s Changing the World, tells the story of lidar’s origins, the people who propelled it forward, and its fascinating transitions to the mainstream.
Lidar has a long, rich history with its early concept dating back to the 1930s. The technology was developed in the early 1960s, closely following the invention of the laser. Lidar gained public notice in 1971 when the Apollo 15 mission used the technology to map the moon’s surface. Since then, lidar has been deployed in numerous game-changing applications such as self-driving cars, unmanned aerial vehicles, robotics, security, and more.
Todd Neff is an award-winning science, environment, and healthcare journalist who has written a book that catalogs many of the captivating stories in lidar’s history. The book, called The Laser That’s Changing the World, tells the story of lidar’s origins, the people who propelled it forward, and its fascinating transitions to the mainstream.
We checked in with Todd to hear from him about some of lidar’s early pioneer days, the technology’s road to autonomous vehicles, and where lidar is headed.
Award-winning science, environment, and healthcare journalist, Todd Neff
VL: One of the great strengths of your book is you addressed a complex technology in a way that’s easy to understand. Why do you think it’s important for a non-technical audience to know about lidar?
Todd Neff: People in general should know about lidar because I think lidar is going to be everywhere. Unless someone manages to come up with another technology that can combine with cameras and radar units to instantly provide precise distance measurements millions of times a second, lidar will be as standard on self-driving cars as headlights are on human-driven cars. In not too many years, driving your own car is going to be like churning your own butter or brewing your own beer. People will do it, but when it’s a question of driving in traffic or napping through it, it’s not going to be a hard decision for most of us. Vehicle autonomy depends on a lot of technology, but history shows that lidar has been the key enabler.
Velodyne Lidar’s Alpha Puck, Velarray, and VelaDome
VL: In the book, you called the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge the “birthplace of the self-driving car industry.” Why was that event so pivotal to the industry?
Neff: The 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge brought together a large group of very smart, not-at-all-risk-averse people – corporate, academic, and independent – who had had, until that point, no sense of the critical mass of talent and interest that had independently accumulated to develop self-driving vehicles. A community was born, in effect. It also showed that the core technologies – particularly computing technologies – had gotten fast enough and solid enough that good engineers could combine them into a package that could do much more than was possible even a few years earlier. The sensors were the weakness, but it wasn’t long before David Hall changed that.
VL: One especially notable outcome of that challenge, you wrote, was David Hall’s invention of the “seminal sensor for self-driving cars.” As you look at lidar’s history, how did David’s invention spur autonomous vehicle development?
Neff: It could be the case, decades from now, that lidar will seem as quaint on autonomous vehicles as hand-crank starters would be on modern cars. But there will be no denying that David Hall’s invention of automotive lidar, which he debuted on a Toyota Tundra in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, marked the moment at which the idea of developing commercially viable self-driving cars became realistic. The ability to identify objects in front of, next to, and behind a vehicle vastly simplified software development (you no longer had to “remember” what you just passed – that it was, say, a guy on a courier bike that would be next to you again at the next stoplight). You could just observe the guy on the bike and plan around it in real time. By the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, there were a half dozen finishers in a much more demanding course than those of the desert challenges. Hall’s Velodyne lidar was on five of them, including the winner, Carnegie Mellon’s “Boss.”
VL: Lidar is seen as an essential technology for autonomous vehicles. What did you learn about lidar’s role in other application areas such as 3D mapping, drones, and robots?
Neff: Automotive lidar piqued my initial interest, and it’s a major focus of The Laser That’s Changing the World. But the automotive story doesn’t start until the second half of the book. Like any other reporting effort, you find that there’s a lot more to the story than you first imagined. In this case, I learned that what became lidar was first envisioned by an Irish savant, Edward Hutchinson Synge, 30 years before the invention of the laser, and that the technology’s evolutionary path quickly diverged into two forks – defense (targeting systems) and atmospheric science (spotting pollution plumes at first). Then came bathymetry and land mapping (including land on Mars, Mercury, and the moon); geological and forestry and archeological applications; architectural and construction-related applications, and on and on. Now you’ve got lidar mapping Times Square for Spiderman movies and lidar zapping license plates in the hands of traffic officers; lidar measuring global winds from space; and lidar measuring the altitude of satellites so the same satellites can measure sea levels that are rising based on the mass balance of ice sheets, which other scientists are measuring with lidar. In the time it took to read the above paragraph, someone probably came up with a new application for lidar.
Velodyne Lidar’s HDL 64E, HDL 34E, The Puck, and Ultra Puck
VL: You have called lidar “a really powerful, massively adaptable tool.” It has had dramatic but not very well-known impact in a variety of fields. Can you share one area that you found particularly interesting?
Neff: I found it all interesting, really. There’s been such creativity in the development and application of lidar technology. And it has been organic and unpredictable. Researchers both in the scientific and the defense worlds noted that, with airborne lidar, enough laser light sneaks through a forest canopy that they can make out the ground below. On the defense side, they developed sensors that can see tanks and trucks hidden in jungles. On the science side, they found the long-hidden Seattle Fault on Bainbridge Island, and archaeologists then flew lidar over Central American jungles to completely rewrite the history of Mayan civilization (cities were many times larger than they were believed to be previously, when you had to hack through jungle to survey anything). The history of lidar provides a fascinating look at how a fundamental enabling technology can spill across and ultimately revolutionize radically different fields over time.
VL: You have noted that lidar has a tradition of creativity and innovation reaching back decades. Building on this legacy, what do you see next for lidar?
Neff: The huge amount of brainpower and money pouring into automotive lidar will yield smaller and smaller systems that are easier and easier to program and operate at lower and lower cost. I’d guess lidar will be incorporated into assistive technologies to help the visually impaired safely navigate their worlds, for example. Wheelchairs could well become autonomous. The work happening in automotive lidar today will make such systems technically and economically viable, just as the work done in the telecommunications industry brought lasers to the point that they were inexpensive and reliable enough to incorporate into automotive lidar. But you just can’t predict where a creative scientist or engineer with a problem to solve will take a new enabling technology. The history of lidar demonstrates that in spades.
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Velodyne Lidar Showcases a Wide Array of Never-Before-Seen Products at CES
Velodyne Lidar Showcases a Wide Array of Never-Before-Seen Products at CESJanuary 3, 2019|In Press Releases|By Albie Jarvis
Velodyne is Everything Lidar, Meeting all Needs for Autonomy and ADAS
Velodyne Velarray’s best-in-class range, resolution, and field of view facilitate robust object detection, allowing for longer braking distance and increased safety.
Velodyne Lidar, Inc. will introduce and demonstrate its breakthrough new lidar sensor technology at CES 2019 in the Las Vegas Convention Center North Hall, booth #9010. Velodyne will present product demonstrations showing how lidar is advancing vehicle autonomy, safety, and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The in-booth press conference will announce exciting collaborations and strategic partnerships, never-before-seen products, and customer achievements on Wednesday, January 9, at 11:00 a.m. PST.
“The new products we are unveiling at CES advance Velodyne’s leadership position in providing the smartest, most powerful lidar solutions for autonomy and driver assistance”
Velodyne will showcase a wide array of products that fully meet all of the auto industry’s lidar needs, including new products to address directional and short-range sensing with trailblazing technology and performance. Velodyne will also introduce complete lidar-based safety solutions that incorporate Velodyne hardware and software. For more details, please see the Velodyne CES new product release on Tuesday, January 8, at 9:00 a.m. PST.
“The new products we are unveiling at CES advance Velodyne’s leadership position in providing the smartest, most powerful lidar solutions for autonomy and driver assistance,” said Anand Gopalan, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Velodyne Lidar. “Delivering integrated hardware and software safety solutions is extremely valuable to automakers with the technologies seamlessly working together to provide breakthrough advanced driver assistance systems.”
At CES, live demonstrations of Velodyne’s lidar sensors will show their industry-leading combination of long range, high resolution, and wide field of view. Visitors to the Velodyne booth can experience a lidar point cloud via augmented reality. Velodyne partners also will lead in-booth presentations, unveil new technologies, and demonstrate lidar’s use in autonomy, marine, agriculture, and emerging industries.
Velodyne demonstrations at CES will include:
The Velodyne Alpha Puck sensor is specifically made for autonomous driving and advanced vehicle safety at highway speeds.
Velodyne Alpha Puck™. The culmination of ten years of lidar development and learning from millions of road miles, the Alpha Puck is a sensor specifically made for autonomous driving and advanced vehicle safety at highway speeds. Perfect for Level 4-5 autonomy, the sensor produces an image best described as “stunning,” with the highest resolution data set in the world. It boasts the longest range for highway driving and maximum safety.
Velodyne Velarray™. The Velarray’s best-in-class range, resolution, and field of view facilitate robust object detection, allowing for longer braking distance and increased safety. Designed for seamless vehicle integration, this compact sensor generates a richly-detailed directional image, day or night. It can be concealed within roof lines, in bumpers, and – as demonstrated at CES – behind windshields.
The Velodyne booth will also feature Velodyne’s Augmented Reality demonstration that allows people to experience how autonomous vehicles see the world.
“At CES, people can come to the Velodyne booth to experience how our intelligent lidar sensors are enabling autonomous vehicles on the road today,” said Mike Jellen, president and chief commercial officer of Velodyne Lidar. “They can see how Velodyne’s rich computer perception data helps determine the safest way to navigate and direct a self-driving vehicle. Visitors to our booth can also learn how Velodyne’s versatile lidar sensors are utilized in a myriad of trailblazing applications in addition to self-driving cars and driver assistance, including unmanned aerial vehicles, mapping, industrial safety, robotics, security, and more.”
Velodyne’s Augmented Reality demonstration allows people to experience how autonomous vehicles see the world.
Cutting-Edge Customer and Partner Solutions
Velodyne will present products and presentations from its network of customers and partners that are using lidar technology in a range of innovative solutions. These partners include Accur8vision, AGC, Apex.AI, AutonomouStuff, DeepMap, Local Motors, MechaSpin, and Paracosm.
Accur8vision. Equipped with Velodyne lidar, Accur8vision provides an innovative approach to the security sector. Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that protects an entire area needing to be secured, compared to perimetric detection which only guards the boundary. With Accur8vision and Velodyne lidar sensors, any intruder who enters the guarded area will never go undetected.
AGC. A world-leading supplier of flat, automotive, and display glass, as well as chemicals and other high-tech materials and components, AGC will showcase windshield technology from its WIDEYE task force. Wideye™ is focused on autonomous vehicles and solid-state lidar integration solutions. Combined with the Velarray™ sensor for an interactive demo in Velodyne’s booth, WIDEYE’s infrared transparent automotive-grade glass provides an ADAS and autonomous solution featuring both seamless design and safer perception.
Apex.AI. Apex.AI builds reliable, safe, and certified software for autonomous vehicles and other autonomous mobility systems. Apex.OS is an SDK compatible ROS 2 (Robot Operating System). It provides a production-grade, safety-certified real-time framework for developing safe and secure autonomous vehicle applications. Apex.Autonomy provides functional building blocks for autonomous vehicles on top of Apex.OS, such as libraries for 3D lidar perception including integration of Velodyne lidars.
AutonomouStuff. AutonomouStuff provides the best R&D platforms, products, software, and engineering services to aid in the advancement of robotics and autonomy. The company has provided solutions for automated driving to thousands of customers worldwide. In order to continue to rise up, companies must surround themselves with the best. This industry is no different. That is why AutonomouStuff chooses to surround itself with a market leader like Velodyne.
DeepMap. HD mapping is a crucial piece of the autonomous vehicle stack that needs to be robust, reliable, and highly scalable. DeepMap provides state-of-the-art mapping and localization to autonomous vehicles as a service. DeepMap helps its customers expedite their autonomous vehicle technology development in a safe and scalable way. Velodyne’s lidar is widely used by DeepMap and its customers for autonomous driving as well as mapping and localization.
Local Motors by LMI. Local Motors will show the world’s first co-created, electric, and self-driving shuttle, Olli. On display will be a current R&D prototype made of a nearly 90 percent 3D-Printed Olli and integrates a range of Velodyne sensors. Local Motors partnered with Velodyne to showcase how Velodyne sensors allow Olli to not only see in 360 degrees, but also ensures coverage of multiple overlapping areas at greater distance with more reliability.
MechaSpin. An industry-leading lidar sensor integrator, MechaSpin will showcase how it has utilized Velodyne’s lidar technology to develop an ecosystem of capabilities to provide solutions in the maritime, intermodal, agriculture, and material handling industries. MechaSpin’s proprietary MSx Processing Engine enables rapid adoption and integration of lidar sensor technology for custom applications.
Paracosm. Paracosm, a division of Occipital, develops PX-80, a handheld 3D mapping device that captures large-scale indoor and outdoor spaces in minutes using Velodyne’s Puck™ sensor. Its CES presentation will highlight exciting, real-world customer use cases from scanning aircraft hangars to the Amazon rainforest for a virtual reality film.
For more information on Velodyne and to download news releases, photos, and videos, please visit https://velodynelidar.com/newsroom/. Media can schedule an executive interview or product demo by contacting Robin Carr at Landis Communications Inc. (415-971-3991; velodyne@landispr.com).
About Velodyne Lidar
Velodyne provides the smartest, most powerful lidar solutions for autonomy and driver assistance. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Velodyne is known worldwide for its portfolio of breakthrough lidar sensor technologies. In 2005, Velodyne’s Founder and CEO, David Hall, invented real-time surround view lidar systems, revolutionizing perception and autonomy for automotive, new mobility, mapping, robotics, and security. Velodyne’s high-performance product line includes a broad range of sensing solutions, including the cost-effective Puck™, the versatile Ultra Puck™, the perfect for L4-L5 autonomy Alpha Puck™ and the directional view Velarray™.
Velodyne CTO on Lidar Solutions for Autonomy and Driver Assistance at CES
January 24, 2019 Press Release via Just-Auto by Matthew Beecham Velodyne develops real-time 3D Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) computing and software platforms. Continuing just-auto/QUBE’sseries of interviews at CES, we spoke to Anand Gopalan, Chief Technology Officer at Velodyne Lidar bout the company’s innovations. Last month, Velodyne revealed Nikon Corp as a new strategic investor with an… Continue reading Velodyne CTO on Lidar Solutions for Autonomy and Driver Assistance at CES
Veoneer Receives Award from Global Automaker to Develop Next Generation Lidar Systems
January 23, 2019 Press Release via Veoneer: Veoneer, Inc., the world’s largest pure-play company focused on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Automated Driving, has been awarded a contract by a global automaker to design and manufacture a mass production lidar systems for autonomous vehicles. “We are proud to get this opportunity to supply next… Continue reading Veoneer Receives Award from Global Automaker to Develop Next Generation Lidar Systems
Velodyne Lidar and YellowScan Lead Drone Surveying Market for Highway Capacity Expansion
January 23, 2019 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) surveying solution enables quick and easy collection of detailed data on busy highway in Hungary Ventus-Tech using YellowScan Surveyor, which includes Velodyne Lidar’s Puck™, to generate precise mapping data. Velodyne Lidar, Inc. today announced that the YellowScan Surveyor from YellowScan has utilized Velodyne’s groundbreaking sensor technology to generate precise mapping data… Continue reading Velodyne Lidar and YellowScan Lead Drone Surveying Market for Highway Capacity Expansion
Automotive Innovator, Rick Tewell, Promoted to Chief Operating Officer at Velodyne Lidar
Automotive Innovator, Rick Tewell, Promoted to Chief Operating Officer at Velodyne LidarNovember 15, 2018|In Press Releases|By Albie JarvisRick Tewell, Chief Operating Officer, Velodyne Lidar, Inc. (Photo: Business Wire)
Velodyne Lidar, Inc. announces the promotion of Rick Tewell to Chief Operating Officer. Tewell assumes leadership of the company’s vast manufacturing efforts at its Megafactory in San Jose, California. He joined the company in September 2017 as Senior Vice President of Automated Manufacturing and was promoted to Chief Advanced Manufacturing Officer prior to the promotion to COO. He brings a wealth of expertise to the day-to-day production of Velodyne’s industry-leading lidar sensor product line.
“For our sensors to be able to see so far and produce incredibly accurate data for autonomous vehicles to use, we have to employ incredibly precise processes, which include utilizing robotics and automation. So we need to also invent the machines that will build our sensors.”
According to Marta Hall, Velodyne’s President and Chief Business Development Officer, Velodyne “recruited Rick Tewell to manage Robotics and Advanced Technology, and within a year it was clear he could lead Operations as COO. Velodyne Lidar is at the extreme edge of high tech, and Rick meets the challenge with da Vinci-like multiple talents. In the last three months Rick upgraded the entire Velodyne Megafactory with robotics and newly designed innovative processes for production. As COO he brings a futuristic vision and fresh energy to the operations of the company.”
“My main responsibility,” said Tewell, “is to take a design that came from the mind of a genius, David Hall [Velodyne’s Founder and CEO], and make it into a product worthy of the Velodyne name. I work with David and Anand [Gopalan, Velodyne’s Chief Technology Officer] to translate these wonderful designs that have the ability to change the world into something that is manufacturable and then ramp production to meet the demand. To take an invention from Dave Hall and turn it into a manufacturable product is a huge responsibility and one that I take very seriously. It’s an incredible opportunity. I get out of bed excited to go to work, and I go to bed thinking about it.”
According to Tewell, the job of Chief Operating Officer at Velodyne is unlike any other. Between designing and manufacturing the highest quality sensors on the market comes the equally challenging task of inventing and building the machines that then build the sensors.
“For our sensors to be able to see so far and produce incredibly accurate data for autonomous vehicles to use, we have to employ incredibly precise processes, which include utilizing robotics and automation. So we need to also invent the machines that will build our sensors.” Given the uniqueness of Velodyne’s products, Tewell pointed out that he must address the complex processes of “taking something that’s never been invented or built before and building tens of thousands — hundreds of thousands — millions of them. It is a whole series of inventions to produce the sensor invention. So, it is not just the genius of the lidar itself; it’s the genius of saying, ‘This is what you are going to need to invent in order to manufacture the sensor.’”
Before coming to Velodyne, Tewell established a successful career in the automotive semiconductor industry, including stops at Fujitsu and NVIDIA. Rick remembers, “The idea that cars eventually would be robots emerged while Dave Hall was participating in the DARPA Grand Challenge. At NVIDIA we were creating the brains that would be used in self-driving cars.” Tewell’s interest and experience in developing key technologies for autonomous mobility grew over the years. Finally, Tewell decided to join Velodyne with the clear realization that he would be “aligning with a company that will be one of, if not the, principal company in the self-driving industry.”
Tewell recognizes the essential role Velodyne’s products have in enabling safe mobility at scale. “We are working hard to meet the next wave of demand for sensors to put on autonomous vehicles. Scaling up will drive the cost down to where the price is attractive to all customers. But we will never compromise on quality. It is critical from an operations standpoint that our product will ultimately impact someone’s life. This realization needs to permeate every aspect of what we do. This is not a piece of technology that is going to stay in a box. When you put a sensor on a car the person in that car is trusting that technology to keep them safe.”
Velodyne Lidar Sensors Power ThorDrive’s Trailblazing Autonomous Driving Commercial Vehicle Services
Velodyne Lidar Sensors Power ThorDrive’s Trailblazing Autonomous Driving Commercial Vehicle ServicesNovember 28, 2018|In Press Releases|By Albie JarvisKickoff Event Takes Place Thursday, November 29th 11:00 a.m.
Hassett ACE Hardware, 875 Alma Street, Palo Alto
Utilizing Velodyne Lidar sensors, ThorDrive, a leading autonomous vehicle (AV) startup, is introducing commercial vehicle services in the first of many pilots. The kick-off event will be attended by local government and business leaders, including Mayor Liz Kniss of Palo Alto, Mike Jellen, President and CCO of Velodyne Lidar, and Seung-Woo Seo, founder of ThorDrive. The initial service, in partnership with Hassett ACE Hardware, will support select residents of Channing House (senior housing) and fire departments in Palo Alto 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.
“ThorDrive-powered commercial vehicle services demonstrate how Velodyne intelligent lidar sensors are helping companies place autonomous vehicles on the road today”
“We are excited to provide groundbreaking autonomous driving technology that is pioneering a new way to provide value-added services in logistics processes,” said Seung-Woo Seo. “Velodyne’s lidar technology provides a crucial data set for sensor fusion in ThorDrive software and will continue to be a core component in the ThorDrive sensor suite.”
“ThorDrive-powered commercial vehicle services demonstrate how Velodyne intelligent lidar sensors are helping companies place autonomous vehicles on the road today,” said Mike Jellen. “ThorDrive’s technology taps the full potential of Velodyne’s rich computer perception data to help determine the safest way to navigate and direct a self-driving vehicle. They are transforming logistics by
developing dedicated autonomous vans to help companies create faster, more efficient commercial services.”
The ThorDrive platform has been designed to provide the highly accurate sensor fusion, high-precision localization, and detailed path planning needed to operate in dense urban environments. It can build maps for hyperlocal areas, such as private parking lots. The platform has been demonstrated to support proof-of-concept tests quickly and cost effectively.
ThorDrive has been using Velodyne lidar sensors in developing its autonomous driving technology since 2010. The company retrofits Ford vans with its AV technology and they will be deployed as a fleet of autonomous vehicles across the United States, addressing commercial and logistics markets.
“ThorDrive is very pleased to be working with Velodyne because of their commitment to continuous innovation and focus on manufacturing at scale,” said Farshid Arman, COO, ThorDrive. “Velodyne has been an invaluable collaborator and provides the reliable product and on-time delivery we need to develop our full stack autonomous driving software to our customers’ choice of commercial vehicles.”
About ThorDrive
ThorDrive, based in Silicon Valley, has been developing autonomous driving technology since 2010, and was established as a company in 2017. ThorDrive is applying its autonomous driving product suite to providing value-added commercial vehicle services (www.thordrive.ai).
David Hall Wows Industry with New Technology Solution for Space Exploration
David Hall Wows Industry with New Technology Solution for Space ExplorationDecember 7, 2018|In Press Releases|By Albie Jarvis
Hall unveils his latest invention to industry, military, and policy leaders at U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s event, LAUNCH: Industry Taking Off
David Hall is one of history’s rare technological visionaries with the imagination and technical wherewithal to recognize a problem, conceive a solution, and then build something that works. On December 6 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s event, LAUNCH: Industry Taking Off, David Hall presented his world-changing solution to a longstanding problem: how to carry materials into space safely, reliably, and efficiently. The audience of industry, military, and policy representatives heard from Hall as well as keynote remarks from Secretary of the Air Force, Heather Wilson; NASA Administrator, Jim Bridenstine; Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Michael Griffin; NOAA Deputy Administrator, Dr. Neil Jacobs; and Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross.
“You can either solve new problems with old technology, or you can solve old problems with new technology. When it comes to launching things into space it’s time for the latter approach.”Tweet this
Hall’s proposal involves a propulsion system that utilizes magnets, thereby eliminating the vast amounts of fuel and materials consumed by the current rocket-based approach. Hall’s efficient launch system allows for the construction of substantial structures in space that would be easily accessible from Earth: places where people could live, work, and conduct scientific research. Such a project has more value for humanity than attempting to colonize Mars, according to Hall.
In 1983, Hall started his company, Velodyne, after inventing servo-driven audio equipment that opened a new world of sound experience. Then, through his participation in the DARPA Grand Challenge, in 2005 Hall created the central component for safe autonomous vehicles, a lidar sensor that could clearly see and measure the vehicle’s surroundings. When not engaged in his duties as the CEO of Velodyne Lidar, Hall continues to invent new technologies, including the Martini marine deck stabilization system that allows boats to travel through choppy waters more quickly and efficiently while greatly increasing passenger comfort.
As he has throughout his career as an inventor, Hall recognizes that the time is ripe for a new idea. “We now have new technologies that enable a paradigm shift in the enduring challenge of space exploration and colonization,” Hall explains. “You can either solve new problems with old technology, or you can solve old problems with new technology. When it comes to launching things into space it’s time for the latter approach.”