Velodyne Lidar (Nasdaq: VLDR, VLDRW) ushered in a new era of autonomous technology with the invention of real-time surround view lidar sensors. Velodyne is the first public pure-play lidar company and is known worldwide 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.

Driverless car startups are booming these days, many with rock-star valuations. Automakers also now talk about rolling out autonomous taxi services by 2019, but here's a quick reality check: By some estimates, we're still 15 years away from truly autonomous vehicles being available to the general public, once you consider the complications of regulation, insurance and the critical last-mile challenges of human safety. For example, carmakers and autonomous startups have to date not agreed on any sort of data-sharing system to allow vehicles to talk to one another, a mandatory step prior to unleashing full autonomy in passenger vehicles. The Uber self-driving car fatality in Arizona in the spring of 2018 further illustrates that driverless cars remain a work in progress. The economic need or demand for driverless cars also remains unclear.