Don't trust this thing. AFAICT, there's not a single clear photo of the actual physical product. Everything is a rendering/CGI/dark lighting and I can't tell if it's real.
If you had a working, quality thing, you'd expect they'd show a clear image. Warning!
It's pretty hilarious; if you click on the "buy" button you have to agree to this:
https://www.livoxtech.com/3296f540ecf5458a8829e01c
(aka don't steal our stuff and don't) " (j) disclose to the public the results of any internal performance testing or benchmarking studies of or about the Productswithout first sending the results and related study(ies) to LIVOX, and obtainingLIVOX’s written approval;"
Yup. Once one does it, especially if that one is the market leader, then their competitors tend to do it too, because otherwise the one that did it would be able to go ahead and publish benchmarks showing it beating the others, and they would not be able to counter.
Someone, I forget who exactly, tried to limit their restriction. It said something like you could not publish benchmarks of their product against your products that had benchmark restrictions unless (1) you published full specifications and configuration information so others could reproduce, and (2) you gave everyone permission to do so.
Usual caveat that you'll only get headline performance at 80% reflectivity, maybe a number plate? Also the IP67 rating system doesn't cover the cooling system (only IP55).
Hokuyo 2D systems start from about $1k and are well regarded in researcher. SICK systems were historically used on research autonomous vehicles (eg the grand challenges), but they're far too heavy for drone use.
Edit - I thought it was 1D initially, apparently the scan pattern is circular, think spirograph (or a lissajous). You'd normally do this with galvos, but this seems to be solid state.
They need a market first, no? They can't just produce 100k of them and hope to sell. To me it means that thy have all the know-how plus parts and manufacturer ready to go at this price part.
Of course the could be lying...er...overly optimistic and hope to get them ready after signing a contract, ala Bill Gates with DOS.
Depends on what market they're trying to get into. For consumers they might be away to get it. But for industry, there is an expectation of inventory which is why it's tough sometimes to have a hardware startup. Even then, it usually makes sense to make them in batches of 1000+ rather then made to order due to economy of scale.
If you had a working, quality thing, you'd expect they'd show a clear image. Warning!