Velodyne Lidar, a developer of sensors to enable autonomous vehicles and other systems to detect their surroundings, this week announced a new manufacturing partnership with plans to begin mass production of its sensors later this year.
Under the deal, Nikon — the Japanese company known primarily for cameras — will produce Velodyne’s lidar sensors and work to incorporate them with its optical and precision systems. Nikon invested $25 million in the Silicon Valley company last year.
Velodyne, which supplies its systems to more than 250 customers in the auto industry, said the agreement would allow it to move from thousands of lidar sensors produced for driver assistance and autonomous systems to “millions of units” and expanded sales in the U.S., Asia, and Europe.
“With this partnership, Velodyne affirms its leadership role in designing, producing, and selling lidar for worldwide implementation,” Velodyne President Marta Hall said in the announcement.
Company officials characterized the deal as an “initial phase” of their collaboration and said they would continue to explore “further areas of a wide-ranging and multifaceted business alliance.”