Skip to main content

Lidar technology wins big in China’s autonomous vehicle challenge

China’s fifth annual Future Challenge earlier this month pitted eleven unmanned intelligent vehicles against each other on a course designed to test their capabilities in suburban and urban road tests, over a 23-kilometre course. All of the first eight cars to finish were equipped with Velodyne’s 3D Lidar vision technology which provides active sensing for crash avoidance, driving automation and mobile road survey and mapping. Velodyne HDL-64E and HDL-32E sensors deliver 360-degree views of the car’s env
November 26, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
China’s fifth annual Future Challenge earlier this month pitted eleven unmanned intelligent vehicles against each other on a course designed to test their capabilities in suburban and urban road tests, over a 23-kilometre course.

All of the first eight cars to finish were equipped with Velodyne’s 3D Lidar vision technology which provides active sensing for crash avoidance, driving automation and mobile road survey and mapping. Velodyne HDL-64E and HDL-32E sensors deliver 360-degree views of the car’s environment, with real-time updates twenty times per second.

Cars on the course needed to demonstrate the ability to recognise light, eliminate human and vehicle interference, successfully detour around construction zones, turn around and come to a stop. All were also required to establish the ability to make a U-turn, accelerate and decelerate. Performance was graded on safety, smartness, smoothness and speed.

"This is simply a remarkable accomplishment," said Wolfgang Juchmann, PhD, 2259 Velodyne Lidar director of sales and marketing. "The Future Challenge course was nothing less than demanding throughout, with terrain and tests that demonstrated Lidar’s versatility and reliability in real time. And the fact that eight of eleven vehicles were so equipped stands as a huge vote of confidence in our technology."

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ITS World Congress Melbourne app now available
    September 21, 2016
    ITS Australia has announced the introduction of the ITS World Congress Mobile App, powered by Here Maps which will allow delegates to experience the benefits of real-time location services and customised journey planning as they navigate their way around the event venues, as well as across the city of Melbourne. With a constant stream of plenary sessions, executive forums, exhibitions, demonstrations and technical tours taking place across multiple sites and times throughout the four day ITS World Cong
  • Is Europe's Galileo project value for money?
    February 2, 2012
    Philippe Hamet discusses the progress of the European Union's Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System Project
  • Trial results change perceptions of EVs
    November 26, 2012
    The results of two one-year electric vehicle (EV) trials carried out in the Netherlands and Sweden were presented at the European Electric Vehicle Congress (EEVC) 2012. All aspects of EVs were taken into account during these trials; results show that after an EV is integrated in people’s daily use, most preconceptions are proved wrong.
  • Consumers ‘fear technology failures with autonomous vehicles’
    April 21, 2017
    With the exception of Generation Y (1977-1994), all other generational groups are becoming more sceptical of self-driving technology, which poses a new challenge to car manufacturers and technology developers, according to the J.D. Power 2017 US Tech Choice Study. The study was carried out in January-February 2017 and is based on an online survey of more than 8,500 consumers who purchased/leased a new vehicle in the past five years. “In most cases, as technology concepts get closer to becoming reality, cons