Ford will invest 75 million in California maker of sensors for self-driving cars

Ford Motor Co. and the Chinese search engine company Baidu will each invest 75 million in Velodyne LiDAR Inc., a company that makes laser sensors that help guide self-driving cars. Velodyne, based in said it will use the 150-million investment to expand design and production and reduce the cost of its sensors. The laser sensors are called Lidar, which is short for "light detection and ranging." They also can be used in conventional vehicles as part of driver-assist systems such as automatic emergency braking. Velodyne said lower costs will enable the sensors to be used in all vehicles to make roads safer.