Why Velodyne Lidar Stock Just Soared 10%

Shares of Velodyne Lidar (NASDAQ: VLDR), a specialist in the manufacture of light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors for drones and self-driving cars -- and a late-2020 SPAC IPO -- exploded higher in early trading on the Nasdaq today. As of 10:10 a.m. EST, Velodyne Lidar stock is up 10.6%, responding to Velodyne's announcement this morning that it has signed a "multi-year sales agreement" with an Australian company called Emesent, which Velodyne describes as "a world-leader in drone autonomy, lidar mapping and data analytics." Velodyne Lidar will be supplying Emesent with Puck LITE lidar sensors to power Emesent's Hovermap mobile scanning system for guiding drones in "hazardous and GPS-denied environments," such as within buildings or underground -- areas where a drone may have to navigate on its own, without aid from satellites.