Luminar Technologies

Luminar Technologies manufactures LiDAR sensors for passenger cars, commercial trucks, and robotaxis as well as safety and driving assist tools. Its key product offerings include a LiDAR sensor solutions “Iris” and “Halo,” and a full-stack autonomous software system for vehicles “Sentinel.” 

Iris, launched in 2019, is a long-range detection LiDAR sensor that can detect dark objects at night up to 250 meters away and a field of view (FoV) of 120 x 28 degrees. Iris uses longer waves of laser light of 1,550 nanometers compared to the typical 905nm length and is suitable for high-volume manufacturability (10,000 to 1 million+ vehicles). Luminar began commercial volume production of Iris in Q3 2022. The company launched an improved version dubbed “Iris+'' in March 2023, with a detection range of 300 meters. Its Halo LiDAR sensor is a compact, low-cost LiDAR solution pitched toward vehicles, including low-cost cars.

Sentinel, unveiled in March 2021, is a full-stack autonomous software system for series production vehicles that offers proactive collision avoidance warnings and highway autonomy (on beta as of December 2023). Sentinel is powered by Luminar’s lidar technology, proprietary perception software, HD mapping technology, and control and planning software. The company also unveiled an automatic emergency steering (AES) feature integrated with its Iris Plus sensor in January 2024. The solution can spot potential obstacles, with a range reaching up to 300 m under suitable conditions, and initiate driving strategies. As of January 2024, Luminar Technologies had 210 patents issued and pending. 

The company has manufacturing facilities in Florida, California, Colorado, and Mexico.

Luminar has acquired several companies including chip design and component suppliers Black Forest Engineering (2018) and OptoGration (July 2021), high-performance laser manufacturer Freedom Photonics (March 2022), HD mapping and localization technology company Civil Maps (Q2 2022), and the lidar division of data storage company Seagate (March 2023).

In May 2024, Luminar Technologies laid off 20% of its workforce (about 140 employees) as part of a restructuring strategy to adopt an "asset-light" business model and boost production. The company also planned to sub-lease certain facilities to reduce its global footprint.

Key customers and partnerships

As of May 2024, the company had 50+ commercial customers including Tesla, Volvo, Daimler, Toyota, Hyundai, Intel's Mobileye, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Polestar, and SIAC; autonomous trucking companies Kodiak Robotics and Torc Robotics; and mobility tech company ECARX.

The company has manufacturing partnerships with electronic companies Celestica and Fabrinet (May 2021) and Zenseact, a unit of Volvo cars (March 2021). It also works with TPK, a Taiwan-based manufacturer of electrical components, to build and operate a high-volume LiDAR factory in China (announced in April 2023). The company partnered with Applied Intuition in April 2024, to develop sensor simulator-validated LiDAR models.

Funding and financials

Luminar generated revenue of USD 69.8 million and incurred an operating loss of USD 563.3 million during the year ended December 2023. The company has been listed on Nasdaq since December 2020, via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which valued the combined entity at USD 3.4 billion (August 2020).