May Mobility Selects Velodyne Lidar as Long-Range Lidar Provider

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Velodyne Lidar, Inc. has announced a sales agreement for Alpha Prime™ sensors with May Mobility, a pioneer in autonomous vehicle (AV) technology. May Mobility selected Velodyne as a provider of long-range, surround view lidar sensors for its entire growing fleet of self-driving shuttles.

Velodyne’s Alpha Prime is a next generation lidar sensor that utilizes Velodyne’s patented 360-degree surround view perception technology to support safe, high-performance autonomous mobility. A result of more than ten years of lidar innovation and testing, the Alpha Prime supports precise, reliable navigation in real-time autonomous operation in urban and highway environments. The sensor detects and tracks vehicles, pedestrians and other obstructions to help autonomous vehicles safely navigate at various speeds, traveling night and day in a range of road conditions such as rain, sleet and snow. 

“Velodyne Lidar is a valued partner and we’ve chosen their long-range, surround view lidar sensors because they integrate well with our AV systems. This will allow us to continue to improve the overall operation and safety of our shuttles, and expand the capabilities of our vehicles into a wider range of operational design domains,” said Edwin Olson, co-founder and CEO of May Mobility.

May Mobility is actively operating autonomous vehicle shuttles today in Grand Rapids, Mich. and has provided more than 265,000 safe AV rides for consumers since 2018. Upcoming planned deployments in 2021 include those in Arlington, Texas and Higashi-Hiroshima City, Japan. 

“May Mobility’s innovative autonomous technology is helping transform urban mobility by delivering safe, accessible transportation services,” said Anand Gopalan, CEO, Velodyne Lidar. “May Mobility is demonstrating how Velodyne’s lidar sensors help make self-driving shuttles safe and efficient, positioning them to close public transit gaps and bottlenecks.”