Lidar vendor Velodyne announced that Anand Gopalan, current CEO of the company, would be stepping down at the end of July amid rumors the company is feuding internally.
The company did not give an official reason for Gopalan’s departure, but last month founder and former chairman David Hall wrote a letter to the board calling for the resignation of Gopalan, according to Reuters.
However, Hall was ousted as chair of the company along with his wife, Marta Thoma Hall, as its chief marketing officer due to “inappropriate behavior” by the couple. Marta Thoma Hall remained a member of the board of directions.
Velodyne did not immediately name a replacement for Gopalan and instead said it would establish an “Office of the Chief Executive,” which would be comprised of several members of the company’s leadership team. This may be a temporary move while the board of directors searches for a replacement.
Velodyne is vying to be one of the main distributors for lidar, a technology that senses and measures objects from long distances. The technology is one of the main components for self-driving cars as it generates 3D images of the road ahead for the vehicles to plan avoidance of pedestrians, other cars and any other road obstacles.
