Velodyne, with CEO Anand Gopalan, makes sensors to automate vehicles
Velodyne Lidar, which makes light and visual sensors and related software for automation, began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the U.S. today. The goal of the San Jose, California based company is “…to transform communities by advancing safer mobility for all,” said Anand Gopalan, chief executive.
Lidar stands for technology that uses light detection and ranging. Velodyne’s lidar products provide real-time 3D vision for autonomous systems thereby enabling machines to see their surroundings. They are used in the automotive industry as well as in autonomous delivery systems, mobile robots, unmanned aerial vehicles, advanced security systems and road intersections in cities.
Over 65 companies use Velodyne’s products. Customers include most major automobile manufacturers and their suppliers, including Ford Motors and General Motors; also Google, which is developing products for autonomous driving vehicles.
By 2024, Velodyne expects revenues to reach $970 million. In 2019, Velodyne lost $67 million on $101 million in revenues. The company has a market value of $3.5 billion.
While the company says its products offer the best quality, it faces several competitors, including another Silicon Valley start-up Luminar Technologies.
Gopalan, 41, was named CEO of Velodyne in January this year. He owns 1.4 million shares of the company worth about $28 million. Previously, since 2016, he was the company’s chief technology officer. In 2019, his total salary was $2.9 million; in 2018 he was paid $4.9 million.
From 2013 to 2016, Gopalan was at Rambus Inc., a microchip interface and architecture company, including as vice president of engineering. Earlier, from 2005 to 2013, he was at Kawasaki Microelectronics, a microchip company, including as director of research and development. Gopalan holds a B.E. in electronics from the University of Mumbai, an M.S. in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in microsystems from Rochester Institute of Technology.
In 2005, David Hall, founder and chairman of Velodyne, invented real-time surround view lidar systems to provide a vision system for autonomous vehicles, in a competition organized by an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. He met the company’s earliest customers, including Ford Motors, Caterpillar and Google, during the competition.