Velodyne LiDAR opens 'Megafactory' in San Jose

Located in San Jose, California, the facility not only has enough space for high-volume manufacturing, but also for the precise distance and ranging alignment process for LiDAR sensors as they come off the assembly line, the company says in a press release. The facotry is already producing Velodyne’s HDL-64 LiDAR sensor, with production ramping up across Velodyne’s entire product portfolio and more than one million LiDAR sensors expected to be built in the facility in 2018. This high-volume manufacturing aims to feed the global demand for Velodyne’s solid-state hybrid LiDAR, the primary and critical instrument needed for autonomous car systems around the world. “This Megafactory provides Velodyne LiDAR the space it requires to manufacture its cutting edge, long-range sensors in a single location, as well as the ability to scale to meet growing global customer demand for LiDAR while pursuing an aggressive growth strategy,” said Mark Shandley, vice president of operations, Velodyne LiDAR. In addition to the San Jose Megafactory, Velodyne LiDAR has also opened a new research and development facility in Alameda, California. Known as Velodyne Labs, this location focuses on building advanced LiDAR, ASICs chip technology, and new solutions to complete and compliment the company’s existing LiDAR lineup.