Hi - I'm one of the founders of Tangram Vision here. It's a good question. This sensor in particular is focused on robotics, where the capabilities of 3D sensors are fairly different from what you'd find on an iPhone. In the case of HiFi, the leaps are in resolution (much higher than other depth sensors for robots), AI compute (about 5x the amount of the next competitor), and ease of integration with a robotic platform.
Thanks for sharing! I'm one of the founders of Tangram Vision, and we are the creators of the HiFi 3D sensor. I'm happy to answer any questions about it here. We think we've raised the bar for 3D sensors for robots: more resolution (1.6MP depth), more AI compute (8 TOPS + 8GB onboard memory), and more onboard dev tools (it self calibrates).
Those are astute observations. There are some sensors that have been considered for AV applications that use these principles - for instance, gated short wave infrared, or FMCW LiDAR. For now, though, they still remain relatively uncommon.
Tangram Vision | Full-Time | SF, CA, Boulder, CO or Remote
Tangram Vision is building DevOps for Perception - we make it simple to integrate and manage sensors on platforms like robots, drones and autonomous vehicles. Learn more at https://www.tangramvision.com