May 22, 2019
The Associated Press reached out to industry leader Velodyne for expert analysis after Tesla founder Elon Musk questioned the role of lidar in self-driving vehicles.
AP auto writer Tom Krisher connected with Marta Hall, Velodyne’s President & Chief Business Development Officer, for an executive Q&A interview story to discuss lidar technology in autonomous cars. The article received considerable pick-up in media outlets that included ATT.net,ABC News,The New York Times,SF Chronicle,Washington Times, and Yahoo! Finance.
In the story, Hall said lidar’s essential role in self-driving cars is grounded in public safety. Lidar provides essential intelligence to detect more objects and offer cars a more detailed view of their surroundings to maximize roadway safety.
In discussing sensor technology, Hall sees lidar and cameras playing complementary roles, as does numerous automakers.
“We believe in redundancy also. Especially if you go fast speeds. This is what we believe is the safest system, a powerful Lidar system and then a cheap camera system as well. We believe you need both if you’re driving autonomously,” said Hall.
The AP article notes that multiple other companies developing autonomous vehicles are using lidar in their cars. Lidar provides rich computer perception data that allows real-time object and free space detection needed for safe navigation and reliable operation of self-driving cars.
The entire interview with Hall can be read here: https://apnews.com/714640aa989846c5bd32cfd12b0e3b9d
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