Velodyne Lidar is collaborating with Ford Otosan on product development and testing of autonomous heavy commercial trucks. Ford’s biggest commercial vehicle production centre in Europe, Ford Otosan is testing Velodyne Velarray H800 lidar sensors for navigation and collision avoidance in its next generation vehicles.

Velarray H800 is designed to improve automated safety and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The Velarray H800 is a compact, embeddable form factor for internal and external vehicle mounting. It has improved range, field of view and resolution for high resolution mapping and object classification tasks.

The sensor will help Ford Otosan create superior autonomous driving technology, addressing edge-cases for driving situations, including curvy roads, potholes, intersections, on/off ramps, residential areas and roadways with unclear lane markings. It is designed to deliver high performance during daylight and at night, enabling the detection of vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and more.

Ford Otosan is already using Velodyne’s Alpha Prime lidar sensors, which provide 360-degree surround-view perception technology to support autonomous mobility. The Alpha Prime is specifically made for autonomous driving in complex conditions for travel up to highway speeds. The combined range, resolution and field of view in one sensor is designed to enable autonomous vehicles and ADAS in a variety of lighting conditions.

“Autonomous vehicle technology, powered by lidar, can bring multiple efficiency and safety benefits to the trucking industry,” said 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.”

“Ford Otosan has well established commercial vehicle leadership in Europe and they act as the global engineering centre for Ford Motor Company’s heavy commercial vehicles,” said 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.”