How an Introvert and DARPA Revolutionized Autonomous Vehicles

Here an Uber self-driving car navigates using a Velodyne LiDAR mounted on its roof.

David Hall, CEO of Velodyne, created what is probably the most important piece of technology in the self-driving vehicle business, LiDAR. Short for “light distance and ranging,” LiDAR is found on all the automated vehicles you have seen. The sensor tells the vehicles’ brains about their surroundings, giving them the data they need to react.

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In a Forbes profile, written by Alan Ohnsman, the story of how a DARPA contest drove Hall to build LiDAR is explained.

At one end there’s a barn-size industrial shed where Hall and a team of engineers are perfecting one of his latest obsessions: a patented technology that keeps boats steady in the roughest waters. Marta, his wife and the head of business development at Velodyne, paints and sculpts in an art studio nestled inside another building. A couple of his Ford F-150 pickups are parked near a hulking crane that hauls boats in and out of the water. Hall’s home itself is a houseboat, or rather a roomy prefab structure bolted onto a barge. From the living room you can hear small waves lapping at the shores of the sleepy canal that separates Alameda from Oakland. It’s a world away from the bustle and glitz of Silicon Valley, where Velodyne has its headquarters, and that’s the point. “I’m an engineer,” the reclusive Hall says, referring to both profession and persona. “I’m basically an introvert, a nerd ahead of my time.”

In 2006, Hall patented one of his inventions–a multi-beam spinning LiDAR sensor–that put Velodyne, albeit almost accidentally, at the center of a revolution that’s disrupting the auto and tech industries. Hall built the LiDAR sensor on a whim. Velodyne, which he had founded in 1983, was a successful business known for specialized audio equipment. But always itching to keep inventing, in the early aughts Hall became obsessed with a seemingly fantastical contest: a Defense Department-sponsored race for autonomous vehicles. It promised to be both fun and an excellent proving ground for his engineering chops. Over a couple of years, Hall refined a roof-mounted LiDAR (for “light distance and ranging”) unit consisting of 64 lasers spun by a small electric motor; the device became a favorite of the race’s winning teams. “It was revolutionary,” says William “Red” Whittaker, a roboticist at Carnegie Mellon University and a father of the autonomous-vehicle movement.

The races, known as the DARPA Challenges, became the Big Bang event for self-driving cars, and Hall’s LiDAR forever changed Velodyne from a modest family-run business into a hot commodity: a 34-year-old startup whose technology is remaking transportation and robotics. Today Velodyne is the top supplier of advanced automotive LiDAR and sells its sensors to virtually every auto and tech company that’s building or testing autonomous vehicles. GM, Ford, Uber and China’s Baidu are big buyers, and even Caterpillar uses Velodyne’s tech for gargantuan robotic mining trucks. Google has been a major customer for years, though it’s also making its own sensors. No company other than Velodyne produces comparable units in sufficient quantities to meet the growing demand.

How Does LiDAR Remote Sensing Work? Light Detection and Ranging

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.