The smaller sensors aren't the same as the giant sensor that goes on top of the car, but ~10 of them can give you comparable coverage for self-driving purposes (assuming they work similar to other smaller LIDAR sensors such as what ibeo makes, hard to say before the product actually ships). And a few thousand dollars is easily affordable for luxury cars; think of it as a typical upgrade like consumers pay for navigation packages, stereos, leather interior, etc.

With regards to the missed shipments - I agree, that is a red flag. And when a company gives a timeline, and then that passes and they change their answer to "soon" it's concerning. Of course, it's CES right now - maybe someone will make an announcement in a few days. Last year Quanergy hyped up their sensor, but when they were pressed it turns out their demo sensor was actually not solid state.

But I struggle to name the expensive element of a LiDAR system. I suspect the previous, reletivley low vumes might have contributed to much of the cost.