Velodyne Lidar, Inc. (Nasdaq: VLDR, VLDRW) today announced ROBORACE, the world’s first autonomous car racing series, has selected Velodyne as the official lidar sensor provider in its next generation vehicles. ROBORACE will use Velodyne‘s solid-state Velarray H800 sensors in its electric-powered autonomous race cars for the Season One championship series, which is set to begin in 2022.

The Velodyne and ROBORACE engineering teams have been working collaboratively on the race car development project. The Velarray H800 was the clear choice of the ROBORACE engineering and design team due to Velodyne’s technical prowess, sensor performance and reliability, and trust across the industry.

“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,” said Chip Pankow, Chief Championship Officer, ROBORACE. “The Velarray will help our cars achieve safe navigation and collision avoidance in competitive autonomous racing.”

ROBORACE was created to accelerate development of autonomous driving systems by pushing the technology to its limits in a range of safe, controlled environments. 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, 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.”

Velodyne‘s Velarray H800 is a solid-state lidar sensor architected for automotive-grade performance. The sensor is built using Velodyne’s breakthrough proprietary micro-lidar array (MLA) architecture. The Velarray H800 allows for outstanding detection of 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 advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous mobility applications.

About ROBORACE

ROBORACE is the world’s first motorsport competition of full-size AI-racing robots in a mixed reality where coding teams from different countries all go for the win. 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 competing teams taking place at various locations, featuring 12 races.

About Velodyne Lidar

Velodyne Lidar (Nasdaq: VLDR, VLDRW) ushered in a new era of autonomous technology with the invention of real-time surround view lidar sensors. Velodyne, the global leader in lidar, is known for its broad portfolio of breakthrough lidar technologies. Velodyne’s revolutionary sensor and software solutions provide flexibility, quality and performance to meet the needs of a wide range of industries, including autonomous vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), smart cities and security. Through continuous innovation, Velodyne strives to transform lives and communities by advancing safer mobility for all. For more information, visit www.velodynelidar.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including, without limitation, all statements other than historical fact and include, without limitation, statements regarding Velodyne’s target markets, new products, development efforts, and competition. When used in this press release, the words "estimates," "projected," "expects," "anticipates," "forecasts," "plans," "intends," "believes," "seeks," "may," "will," “can,” "should," "future," "propose" and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside Velodyne's control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors, among others, that may affect actual results or outcomes include uncertainties regarding government regulation and adoption of lidar, the uncertain impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Velodyne's and its customers' businesses; Velodyne's ability to manage growth; Velodyne's ability to execute its business plan; uncertainties related to the ability of Velodyne's customers to commercialize their products and the ultimate market acceptance of these products; the rate and degree of market acceptance of Velodyne's products; the success of other competing lidar and sensor-related products and services that exist or may become available; uncertainties related to Velodyne's current litigation and potential litigation involving Velodyne or the validity or enforceability of Velodyne's intellectual property; and general economic and market conditions impacting demand for Velodyne's products and services. For more information about risks and uncertainties associated with Velodyne’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of Velodyne’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Velodyne as of the date hereof, Velodyne undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.