Palmer Luckey launching defense startup
Oculus co-founder wants to use self-driving car technology to monitor borders for illegal crossings
Palmer Luckey's departure from Oculus may have been the VR figurehead's departure from gaming as a whole. According to The New York Times, Luckey's new endeavor is a defense industry start-up.
"We are spending more than ever on defense technology, yet the pace of innovation has been slowing for decades," Luckey told the paper. "We need a new kind of defense company, one that will save taxpayer dollars while creating superior technology to keep our troops and citizens safer."
Luckey's company reportedly wants to use light detection and ranging technology currently implemented in self-driving cars to create a system to monitor borders for illegal crossings, or offer perimeter security for military bases. Luckey has already discussed using the technology on the US-Mexico border with Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, and the president's tech advisor Peter Thiel reportedly plans to invest in the company, which to this point has been self-financed.