Deals
Ford Speeds Driverless Work With Lidar Stake, Double Staff
- Automaker, China’s Baidu invest $150 million in sensor firm
- Laser-based detection a key component to self-driving cars
This article is for subscribers only.
Ford Motor Co. is doubling the size of its Silicon Valley lab and taking a stake in the leading maker of an advanced radar system to accelerate its development of self-driving cars.
Ford and China’s top search engine company, Baidu Inc., are each investing $75 million in Velodyne Lidar Inc., the automaker said in a statement. Lidar bounces light off objects to assess shape and location, giving self-driving cars a 360-degree view of their environment with the help of cameras and traditional radar. Morgan Hill, California-based Velodyne said the money will help it improve design and expand production, making the sensors more affordable for mass adoption.