Waymo halts sales of lidar self-driving car sensors

Alphabet Inc’s self-driving unit Waymo has revealed that it has ended a two-year effort to sell light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors to other companies.

Waymo reversed its earlier strategy to sell the lidars to non-automotive customers to bring down costs of a key and expensive component of self-driving cars.

Waymo, however, said it will continue to build its lidars in-house.

A source claims Waymo is considering both internal technology and external suppliers for its next-generation lidars.

The move to stop selling lidars comes after the departure of CEO John Krafcik and some other executives, which had fueled questions about whether Waymo would rethink its strategy after failing to generate significant revenue for over a decade.

It was not clear whether Waymo was able to generate enough revenue to offset development and operational costs of its lidar sales business.

Share:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *