Velodyne Lidar and Ford Otosan will work together on product development and testing of autonomous heavy commercial trucks.

To enable safe navigation and collision avoidance in next generation vehicles, Ford Otosan is testing and planning to use Velodyne Velarray H800 lidar sensors, which are described as a “powerful solution that can greatly improve automated safety and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).”

“Autonomous vehicle technology, powered by lidar, can bring multiple efficiency and safety benefits to the trucking industry,” says Burak Gökçelik, assistant general manager, Ford Otosan.

“Our autonomous driving initiative with Velodyne looks to improve roadway safety by helping trucks understand and react to approaching road conditions and surroundings.”

Velarray H800 is designed for automotive-grade performance and durability. It is considered ideal for seamless integration in internal and external vehicle mounting locations thanks to its compact, embeddable form factor. 

According to Velodyne Lidar, the Velarray H800 boasts outstanding range, field of view and resolution to deliver rich point cloud density required for high resolution mapping and object classification tasks. Ford Otosan will use the sensor to create superior autonomous driving technology, as it seeks to address edge-cases for driving situations, including curvy roads, potholes, intersections, on/off ramps, residential areas and roadways with unclear lane markings. The Velarray H800 also delivers high performance during daylight and at night, which enables vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and more to be detected.  

Velodyne Lidar notes that Ford Otosan is already using Velodyne’s Alpha Prime lidar sensors. Specifically made for autonomous driving in complex conditions for travel up to highway speeds, the lidar sensors provide 360-degree surround-view perception technology to support autonomous mobility.

The combined range, resolution and field of view in one sensor is designed to enable autonomous vehicles and ADAS in a wide variety of lighting conditions.

“Ford Otosan has well established commercial vehicle leadership in Europe and they act as the global engineering center for Ford Motor Company’s heavy commercial vehicles,” says Erich Smidt, executive director Europe, Velodyne Lidar.

“We look forward to cooperating with Ford Otosan on autonomous driving development and learning from their use of the Velarray H800 in the trucking market.”