
Velodyne’s VLS-128 offers more resolution, smaller package, lower price - deepnotderp
https://www.spar3d.com/news/lidar/velodynes-vls-128-offers-resolution-smaller-package-lower-price/
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tibbon
Where's the "buy" link?

Maybe I'm just missing it for this one in particular, but I really dislike it
when companies hide the price, and don't offer an immediate way to purchase. I
see _one_ of them has a price listed, and the other ones don't.

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ska
This isn't a consumer device.

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tibbon
Sure... but if I've got the money and really like building robots (pretend I'm
on the Megabots team or something) why not enable me to buy 1-2 of them? Money
is money right?

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tyingq
I used to sell something kind of similar...high cost, niche electronics. We
didn't make it easier for hobbyists because they would often want to return
the item after playing around. Then we couldn't sell it as a new item. The
depreciation hit was significant.

The hobbyists were also a drain on support time, disproportionate to other
customers.

Once the market settled, and the devices were closer to commodity prices, and
our knowledge base was in better shape, we opened back up to them.

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microcolonel
> _they would often want to return the item after playing around_

Then don't have a return policy.

> _The hobbyists were also a drain on support time_

Make them pay for support at a premium.

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zdkl
A company practicing your doctrine will get slammed for being user-hostile by
everyone on hn and reddit. Probably sued in some countries, too.

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bhouston
What is the new price? What was the previous model price? How many of these
does one need in a self-driving car?

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pattycake
> How many of these does one need in a self-driving car?

I think that definitely depends on the company you talk to. Tesla right now
says 0. Other companies have been seen with 1-5.

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Fricken
This is intended to replace the 64, and I've never seen more than one of those
on an autonomous test vehicle.

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deepnotderp
Perhaps my title was a bit sensational, but I was very surprised to see solid
state LIDAR shipping already. Anyone care to speculate on their technology? I
doubt it's an OPA (power output problem), so perhaps it's a MEMS?

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dllu
I'm pretty sure it's still a spinning lidar.

Nowhere in the official press release [0] did it say it's solid state.

Moreover, a recent Verge article [1] says that Velodyne is shifting attention
away from solid state lidar to focus on producing spinning ones.

Note that Velodyne called its spinning lidars "hybrid solid state" which is
rather misleading.

[0]
[http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171107005794/en/Velo...](http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171107005794/en/Velodyne-
LiDAR-Launches-VLS-128%E2%84%A2-World%E2%80%99s-Highest-Resolution/)

[1] "Employees told The Verge that resources had been redirected to the
production of high-end rotating LIDAR, and that the press release touting the
solid state unit had been premature."
[https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/18/16491052/velodyne-
lidar-...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/18/16491052/velodyne-lidar-
mapping-self-driving-car-david-hall-interview)

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deepnotderp
Ah, that makes sense, thanks for correcting me!

