Press release
Velodyne Lidar’s Sponsorship of Autonomous Vehicle Competition in China Advances Research and Development of Self-Driving Cars
Feb 12, 2019 | By ALBIE JARVIS

Velodyne’s Support of IVFC Accelerates Autonomous Vehicle Development

At the 10th China Intelligent Vehicles Future Challenge (IVFC), Velodyne Lidar sensors played a prominent role in enabling self-driving vehicles from multiple teams.

At the 10th China Intelligent Vehicles Future Challenge (IVFC), Velodyne Lidar, Inc. sensors played a prominent role in enabling self-driving vehicles from multiple teams to navigate real and complex road traffic environments. As an IVFC sponsor, Velodyne had its industry-leading lidar sensors on 20 of the 27 participating teams, including the competition’s winner, at the longest-running and most authoritative autonomous vehicle (AV) contest in China.

“This competition also involves instrumental verification for advancing our AV industry and having Velodyne, the lidar market leader, participate brings invaluable expertise and experience to this learning environment.”

The IVFC, which took place in Changshu, Suzhou, China in November 2018, attracted a diverse group of teams looking to showcase their latest developments in AV technology. In addition to teams from university research institutes, innovative startup companies and vehicle manufacturers engaged in developing driverless cars participated in the competition. The challenge was hosted by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and organized by the Changshu Municipal People’s Government.

The challenge included both real-road and offline testing of environmental perception. In the real-road test, the self-driving vehicles competed on urban roads, suburban roads, and elevated expressways. Vehicles navigated dense human-driving traffic flow and various adversarial conditions like GPS-signal loss, road construction, crossing pedestrians, and heavy rain.

As an IVFC sponsor, Velodyne Lidar had its industry-leading lidar sensors on 20 of the 27 participating teams.

The IVFC winner was the “Pioneer” team from the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Xi’an Jiaotong University and Sunny Optical Technology Co., Ltd., which was equipped with one Velodyne Ultra Puck™ and two Velodyne Puck™ sensors. Velodyne will award the winners with one Velodyne HDL-64E and two Velodyne Puck™ sensors for future AV development.

The high-density, long-range image generated by the Velodyne Ultra Puck™ makes it the industry favorite for driver assistance, autonomous navigation, and more.

“The IVFC provides an excellent opportunity for our next-generation scientists and engineers to strengthen their research and development abilities in the field of autonomous vehicles and build new cooperative relationships with colleagues from throughout China,” said Dr. Chi Zhang, Xi’an Jiaotong University, who was a referee in the 10th IVFC. “This competition also involves instrumental verification for advancing our AV industry and having Velodyne, the lidar market leader, participate brings invaluable expertise and experience to this learning environment.”

“The Intelligent Vehicles Future Challenge has long had a leading role in promoting innovation and practical application of autonomous vehicle technology in China,” said Wei Weng, Executive Director APAC, Velodyne Lidar. “Velodyne feels privileged to work closely with the prestigious government, academic, business, and research organizations involved in the IVFC to advance the research and development skills of these creative engineers so they can contribute to accelerating the growth of the AV industry.”

The IVFC winner was the “Pioneer” team, which was equipped with Velodyne lidar sensors.

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About Velodyne Lidar

Velodyne Lidar (Nasdaq: VLDR, VLDRW) ushered in a new era of autonomous technology with the invention of real-time surround view lidar sensors. Velodyne, a global leader in lidar, is known for its broad portfolio of breakthrough lidar technologies. Velodyne’s revolutionary sensor and software solutions provide flexibility, quality and performance to meet the needs of a wide range of industries, including robotics, industrial, intelligent infrastructure, autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Through continuous innovation, Velodyne strives to transform lives and communities by advancing safer mobility for all.

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