Accelerating Lidar Innovations for Autonomous Driving

dSPACE Joins the Automated with Velodyne Lidar Partner Program

Paderborn, Germany and San Jose, California, USA, September 15, 2020. dSPACE and Velodyne Lidar Inc. have entered into a partnership to accelerate future developments of lidar technologies for autonomous driving. To this end, dSPACE, a leader and partner for simulation and validation in the automotive industry, has joined the Velodyne program ‘Automated with Velodyne.’ The program aims to accelerate ecosystem interactions and rapidly integrate lidar innovations into a range of autonomous solutions including autonomous driving.

Participation in the Automated with Velodyne program gives dSPACE the opportunity to emulate new laser sensors from Velodyne into simulation solutions at an early development stage. Moreover, dSPACE will develop simulation models for testing and validation, and provide the sensor simulation environment for validating camera, lidar and radar sensors throughout the development process – accelerating customer’s development projects.

The dSPACE simulation solution generates point clouds in real time to simulate objects. The simulation models help determine the most effective positioning of the sensor on the vehicle (sweet spot), as well as the sensor limits (corner cases). Through the partnership program, Velodyne’s customers can seamlessly integrate sensor models from dSPACE into their development activities.

“The earlier in the development process that validation can be achieved, the faster new functions for autonomous driving can be safely launched by our customers. The cooperation with Velodyne contributes to this process significantly,” said Caius Seiger, Product Manager Sensor Simulation at dSPACE.

Velodyne, a pioneer in 3D lidar systems headquartered in the Silicon Valley, has attracted internationally-leading technology companies to their Automated with Velodyne program. These companies use lidar technology in various areas – from automotive and aerospace to industrial automation.

“The simulation accuracy provided by dSPACE is remarkably close to reality, and our customers will appreciate the efficiency these Velodyne simulation models will offer them”, said Jon Barad, Vice President of Business Development, from Velodyne. “This capability can effectively support the entire automotive industry in advancing the development of robust and safe ADAS and AV applications.”

dSPACE offers an end-to-end solution for data-driven development that enables consistent processing -- from data acquisition, data annotation, and measurement-data-based scenario generation via sensor simulation, to highly scalable, scenario-based tests in the cloud.