Executives

DAVID HALL

December 19, 2016 05:00 AM

Chosen because: Lidar debuted in the self-driving car conversation when autonomous prototypes began appearing with the spinning coffee-canlike sensors on their roofs. David Hall, 59, introduced the solid-state hybrid lidar technology during the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Grand Challenge 10 years ago. Under his company, Velodyne Lidar Inc., Hall has made the sensors available to Ford Motor Co., General Motors, Uber and Google, which are developing autonomous driving systems. Tesla deemed the laser radar too expensive and unnecessary for its self-driving cars. Hall's Velodyne has succeeded in lowering the cost of the sensors through a $150 million investment from Ford and Baidu, a Chinese technology company.

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