Velodyne Shares Drop As Waymo Moves Out Of Lidar Selling Business

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL owned self-driving company, Waymo, confirmed ending the sale of custom sensors to third parties after two years of operation, Reuters reports.
Waymo will now focus on deploying its Waymo Driver tech across its Waymo One ride-hailing and Waymo Via trucking divisions. It will also continue to build its lidars in-house. The financial impact of the decision remains unknown.
Waymo is reportedly considering both internal technology and external suppliers for its next-generation lidars.
The decision coincides with the CEO and six critical executive overhaul, which raised questions over the restructuring of the company's strategy.
Waymo first began manufacturing its lidar sensors in early 2017 as the move aimed to lower the unit price from $75,000 for an off-the-shelf lidar sensor to just $7,500, the Verge reports.
In 2019, Waymo announced its plans to sell its lidar to customers that won't compete with its robot taxi business.
Alphabet had spent over $3.5 billion on Waymo as of 2020. Those costs are likely to rise as the company seeks to ramp up its autonomous taxi and delivery services.
Price Action: VLDR shares traded lower by 6.07% at $6.81 on the last check Friday.