Oculus founder Palmer Luckey working on border surveillance technology

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey has been out of action since being ousted from Facebook after his $100,000 donation to a pro-Trump ‘shitposting’ group came to light.

The man is once again in the spotlight, this time for a new company, developing surveillance technology designed to be used at national borders and at military bases. The New York Times reports that his newest business venture uses lidar technology for surveillance on country borders or high-level sites such as military bases.

Apparently, Palmer has been busy securing meetings with key White House representatives to pitch his technology. He could also secure funding for the venture, with PayPal founder Peter Thiel apparently mulling investment through his Founder’s Fund company.

"We are spending more than ever on defence technology, yet the pace of innovation has been slowing for decades. We need a new kind of defence company, one that will save taxpayer dollars while creating superior technology to keep our troops and citizens safer," Luckey confirmed the outline of his new venture in a statement to the Times.

The said surveillance technology is being proposed as an alternative to full-scale border walls, such as the one President Trump has pledged to build between the U.S. and Mexico. It uses a variety of sensors that could be used to detect threats such as drones, but ignore more common objects such as birds or other wildlife.

The company already has support from another Trump ally — Peter Thiel, adds NYT report. Though not much is known at this point about other potential financial backers, the Southern California-based company has hired “a handful” of staff, including former Oculus employee Christopher Dycus.