Velodyne Lidar Inc. yesterday announced that ROBORACE has selected it as the official lidar sensor provider for next generation vehicles in the Season One championship series, which is set to begin in 2022. ROBORACE use Velodyne‘s Velarray H800 sensors in its electric-powered autonomous race cars.
“At ROBORACE, we are always searching for the best technology to build into our race cars, and Velodyne has one of the best products available on the market,” stated Chip Pankow, chief championship officer at ROBORACE. “The Velarray will help our cars achieve safe navigation and collision avoidance in competitive autonomous racing.”
ROBORACE said it is the world’s first motorsport competition of full-size AI-racing robots in a mixed reality involving coding teams from different countries. Its goal is to accelerate development of autonomous driving systems by pushing the technology to its limits in a range of safe, controlled environments.
Velarray H800 provides automotive-grade perception
Velodyne Lidar claimed that its invention of real-time, surround-view lidars ushered in a new era of autonomous technology. The San Jose, Calif.-based company said its sensors and software meet the needs of a wide range of industries, including autonomous vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), smart cities, and security.
The Velarray H800 is a solid-state lidar designed for automotive-grade performance, said Velodyne. The sensor uses the company's proprietary micro-lidar array (MLA) architecture.
The Velarray H800 can detect peripheral, near-field, and overhead objects while addressing corner cases on sloping and curving roads. It is designed for safe navigation and collision avoidance in ADAS and autonomous mobility applications.
The Velodyne and ROBORACE engineering teams have been working together on the race car development project. ROBORACE's engineering team said the Velarray H800 was the clear choice of the ROBORACE engineering and design team because of the company’s technical prowess, sensor performance and reliability, and trust across the industry.
Velodyne continues ROBORACE support
In 2019, the Season Alpha series held six events that drove over 36 million multi-channel video views. ROBORACE also set the Guinness World Record for having the fastest autonomous car in the world. The Robocar reached a speed of 282.42 km/h (175.49 mph).
In September 2020, ROBORACE commenced its Season Beta series with six teams competing in 12 races in various locations. ROBORACE provides the platform, organization, and support, while racing teams are responsible for their own code and strategy.
Season One of the ROBORACE Championship will feature multi-agent racing and Metaverse elements, with each competition designed to provide a variety of challenges. There are commercial and university racing teams in the competition.
“ROBORACE is a proving ground for the next generation of mobility by putting self-driving technologies to the test in performance racing,” said Sinclair Vass, chief commercial officer at Velodyne Lidar. “With its long-range perception and broad field of view, the Velarray H800 is a great fit for ROBORACE’s autonomous race cars. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with ROBORACE in advancing innovation in the sport of racing.”
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