Velodyne Lidar announced the acquisition of Mapper.ai, a mapping and localization software developer. Velodyne Lidar aims to leverage Mapper technology to accelerate development of Vella™, the software that establishes its directional view Velarray™ lidar sensor. The Velarray is the first solid-state LiDAR sensor that is embeddable and fits behind a windshield, as an integral component for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

Mapper’s entire leadership and engineering teams will join Velodyne, bolstering the company’s growing software development group, supporting Velodyne’s production of ADAS solutions.

(Image: Velodyne Lidar/ Mapper.ai)

Anand Gopalan, CTO at Velodyne, said, “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.”

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, and unmanned aerial vehicles.