Is Velodyne gone?

The lidar thing is huge numbers. Huge. 10’s of billions huge. At least in today’s soon to be self driving world, it is.
Tesla is not using lidar, google is. Others may be as well.
Lidar, if it was on the Tesla cars, might have prevented all deaths so far. That’s how good it is.
Elon may be ignoring it due to licensing costs, and implementation costs.

The militaries of the world tend to exclusively use Lidar, and Velodyne really does not need the subwoofer hassle ...with selling such expensive Lidar products to the biggest clients imaginable.

When the class d amps go out, it is many times due to a few small electrolytic capacitors aging and going off spec.

Repair patterns emerge.

Class D amplifiers are very hard on some of the capacitors and other components in their designs, and age rapidly with no signs of immanent failure. This is a generalization but it is a potent part of the high failure and low lifespan, in general, of class D products. Manufacturers love this built in timed fuse aspect. Don't expect them to get rid of pulse power systems any time soon.

Old school amplifiers, due to how they stress components, can generally last 2-3-4-6 times longer.