Austin Russell, founder and CEO of Luminar, speaks at TC Sessions in San Mateo, California, in May 2022.Self-driving vehicles are a more formidable challenge to solve than many advocates for the technology anticipated. However, that’s not dampening the growth outlook for Luminar, which makes the laser sensors that autonomous vehicles need to see the world in three dimensions.
The company, based in Orlando, is also readying Iris+, a slimmer new version of its main lidar unit, that provides more detailed images of a vehicle’s surroundings at up to 300 meters and improved “collision avoidance of small objects at up to autobahn-level speeds,” the company said. Mass production of the sensor will be at Luminar’s highly automated Monterrey plant.
Lidar provides more information than digital cameras and radar, which are already standard gear on most new vehicles, because of its ability to generate 3-D point-cloud images of all objects, vehicles, pedestrians and other roadway features in daylight or at night. Its ability to understand the location and movement of those things is key to improved safety. According to the company, individual Luminar sensors cost about $1,000, including software.
By comparison, Russell said he anticipates Luminar’s revenue will triple annually for the next several years from its supply contracts.
alanohnsman Perfect for open source
alanohnsman What for?
alanohnsman Guess ran out of a viable market