- Luminar’s lidar units will be offered on a wide range of Mercedes-Benz models from mid-decade.
- The lidar units will be part of a significantly improved hands-free driving system that Mercedes-Benz plans to roll out across its range.
- The deal builds on an ongoing partnership between Luminar and Mercedes-Benz.
Austin Russell, Founder and CEO of Luminar, with Markus Schäfer, Chief Technology Officer of Mercedes-Benz AG at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen, Germany.
Mercedes Benz
Lidar maker Luminar said Wednesday that Mercedes-Benz will integrate its sensors and software into a “wide range” of vehicles starting mid-decade, marking a significant expansion of an ongoing partnership between the two companies.
As part of the extended contract, Mercedes-Benz will integrate the next version of Luminar’s Iris lidar into an upcoming semi-automated driving system that will be available on many future Mercedes models. Mercedes’ new system will enable extended hands-free operation during motorway driving at speeds of up to 130 kilometers per hour (81 miles per hour), as well as improved driver assistance functions in urban environments.
Luminar’s shares soared more than 25% following the announcement.
“We are now poised to enable the broadest deployment of this technology in the industry,” said Austin Russell, CEO of Luminar. “Mercedes’ standards for vehicle safety and performance are among the highest in the industry, and their decision to double down on Luminar reinforces that commitment.”
The deal builds on one announced by the two companies in January 2022, in which Mercedes-Benz announced it would integrate Luminar lidar into upcoming high-end models.
“As a first step, we introduced a Level 3 system in our top models,” says Markus Schäfer, Chief Technology Officer at Mercedes-Benz, with a view to last year’s deal with Luminar. “Next we want to implement advanced automated driving functions on a larger scale within our portfolio.”
Luminar didn’t announce expected production volumes, but the company described it as a “multibillion-dollar” expansion of the previous deal, and a Luminar spokesperson told CNBC that this new deal is “more than an order of magnitude larger” than last year’s deal with Mercedes Benz.
Luminar will unveil the next generation of its iris lidar system when it reports its fourth-quarter and full-year results on Tuesday.
– CNBC’s Michael Wayland contributed to this report.