​​Velodyne Lidar Snags Ex-Google IoT Leader For Top Engineering Role

On Monday, Velodyne Lidar revealed that Dr. Anurag Gupta has come on board as its new EVP of Engineering.

Gupta, who reports directly to CEO Dr. Ted Tewksbury, will lead Velodyne’s team responsible for creating the hardware and software solutions that make its lidar package, which uses light to map areas and detect objects, possible.

Gupta brings a wealth of experience from previous roles leading engineering teams at Sense Photonics and Google.

In his most recent role, Gupta led the creation of Sense Photonics’s own 3D flash lidar products as its SVP of Engineering. While at Google, Gupta worked on AI-powered IoT devices, such as the Google Nest, and helped deliver the first version of Google Glass.

In the company’s announcement, Tewksbury highlighted Gupta’s track record of developing and introducing commercially successful products and called him the “ideal engineering executive to sharpen Velodyne’s focus on disruptive technology innovation and our roadmap of high-performance, cost-effective lidar solutions.”

Velodyne will need to lean on Dr. Gupta’s expertise as it looks to continue improving its lidar solution and growing its order numbers. At the end of Q3 2021, the company shipped 4,400 sensor units, up from 3,800 sensors in the previous quarter, and is expected to end 2021 with 38 multi-year agreements.

“Velodyne invented lidar as we know it in commercial applications, which was the catalyst for an entirely new industry,” Dr. Gupta stated. “I am looking forward to working with our team of incredibly talented people in further strengthening our hardware and software solutions that transform a broad range of markets and improve people's lives.”

The company kicked off 2022 by announcing a new five-year sales deal to provide defense and security company QinetiQ with lidar sensors that improve the perception and mapping capabilities of its unmanned ground vehicle portfolio.