Eyes On The Road

HOW VELODYNE’S VISION SENSORS ARE USHERING IN THE SELF-DRIVING-CAR REVOLUTION.

- Alan Ohnsman

Seconds after David Hall punches in a code, the electronic gate to his waterfront residence swings open. It’s a large compound but not the kind you’d expect from a tech entrepreneur who is as responsible as anyone for ushering in the self-driving car revolution. Hall, 66, is CEO of Velodyne, the leading maker of LiDAR sensors, the “eyes” that allow autonomous vehicles to see what’s around them. He lives among a ramshackle collection of low-slung, shingled and metal structures built around a concrete plot on the Bay Area island town of Alameda, California. It’s his favorite refuge, equal parts living quarters and workshop, where this inveterate tinkerer and serial inventor can work on his pet projects.

At one end there’s a barn-size industrial shed where Hall and a team of engineers are perfecting one of his latest obsessions: a patented technology that keeps boats steady in the roughest waters. Marta, his wife and the head of business development at Velodyne, paints and sculpts in an art studio nestled inside another building. A couple of his Ford F-150 pickups are parked near a hulking crane that hauls boats in and out of the water. Hall’s home itself is a houseboat, or rather a roomy prefab structure bolted onto a barge. From the living room you can hear small waves lapping at the shores of the sleepy canal that separates Alameda from Oakland. It’s a world away from the bustle and glitz of Silicon Valley, where Velodyne has its headquarters, and that’s the point. “I’m an engineer,” the reclusive Hall says, referring to both profession and persona. “I’m basically an introvert, a nerd ahead of my time.”