A Luminar Technologies car equipped with LiDAR (light detection and radar) sensors on the roof demonstrates technology now being used in driverless vehicles that many automotive companies are using as part of global research during a demonstration for the Automated Vehicles Symposium, Monday, July 15, 2019, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Luminar Technologies ($LAZR) has completed its merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), bringing the company public on the Nasdaq on Thursday.
The deal makes the 25-year-old founder and CEO Austin Russell one of the world's youngest billionaires and among the first in the emerging self-driving market.
The company specializes in what's called LIDAR or light detection and ranging technology, which is critical for self-driving cars to understand their surroundings.
"We built a custom sensor that can see and understand the world accurately and reliably around it in 3D by sending out laser pulses measuring the exact distance of different things down to centimeter-levels of precision," Russell told Cheddar. "This is critical for allowing an autonomous car to see and understand its environment and to be able to safely navigate it accordingly."
The company, which spent much of its eight-year history developing the technology, has more recently moved into commercialization. It now has more than 50 commercial partners, including seven of the top-10 automakers, according to Russell.
He added that Luminar has its sights on three main verticals: consumer vehicles, trucking, and robo-taxis.
Current deals include one with Volvo, which plans to release consumer vehicles using the technology for autonomous highway driving in 2022. Another is with Daimler Trucks, which will employ LIDAR tech for autonomous long-range trucking.
As for when self-driving cars will become more mainstream, Russell offered this perspective: "I think for self-driving cars you'll start to see it on the consumer vehicle and the trucking side, really at true large scale, by the end of the decade," he said, though the young entrepreneur conceded that this ultimately may be a "conservative timeline."
The SPAC, Gores Metropoulos, saw shares jump nearly 30 percent Thursday following the merger.
Dave Long, CEO and Co-Founder of Orangetheory Fitness joins Cheddar to chat trends in the industry for 2024. He updates us on the company's plans to expand and what the state of the economy has meant for business.
One of the world's largest renewable energy developers will be getting hundreds of wind turbines from General Electric spinoff GE Vernova as part of a record equipment order and long-term service deal.
A moon landing attempt by a private US company appears doomed because of a fuel leak on the newly launched spacecraft. Astrobotic Technology managed to orient the lander toward the sun Monday so its solar panel could capture sunlight and charge its onboard battery.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has announced that 100,000 businesses have signed up for a new database that collects ownership information intended to help unmask shell company owners. Yellen says the database will send the message that “the United States is not a haven for dirty money.”
A new version of the federal student aid application known as the FAFSA is available for the 2024-2025 school year, but only on a limited basis as the U.S. Department of Education works on a redesign meant to make it easier to apply.
A steep budget deficit caused by plummeting tax revenues and escalating school voucher costs will be in focus Monday as Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature return for a new session at the state Capitol.
The first U.S. lunar lander in more than 50 years is on its way to the moon. The private lander from Astrobotic Technology blasted off Monday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, catching a ride on United Launch Alliance's brand new rocket Vulcan.
Global prices for food commodities like grain and vegetable oil fell last year from record highs in 2022, when Russia’s war in Ukraine, drought and other factors helped worsen hunger worldwide, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.
Wall Street is drifting higher after reports showed the job market remains solid, but key parts of the economy still don’t look like they’re overheating.
