Commercialization is accelerating! Luminar or build a new lidar sensor factory in Asia

According to the latest news from foreign media, Luminar Technologies, an American manufacturer of lidar sensors, plans to establish a new factory in Asia and will seek to reduce the cost of each lidar sensor to $100.

It is reported that Luminar outsourced the production of its lidar sensor to Celestica, a Canadian electronics manufacturing service company, and then assembled it and supplied it to the automobile manufacturer. The two sides expect to establish an assembly plant with high automation rate in Mexico in the second half of 2023 and put it into operation in succession.

(Image source: Luminar Technologies)

In addition, Austin Russell, founder and CEO of Luminar, also pointed out that considering that there are many factories of automobile manufacturers in Asia, Luminar may establish a new laser radar sensor factory in the Asia-Pacific region.

As early as January 4, 2023, Luminar concluded that by the end of 2022, its business momentum had exceeded its original expectations, and it had signed new series production agreements with leading automobile manufacturers for a number of models, and had exceeded its target.

Luminar has achieved the commercial production of its high-performance optical detection and ranging (lidar) sensor, which has also experienced a research and development stage of up to five years. At the beginning of January this year, Austin Russell said in introducing an electric vehicle to be displayed at CES: "This is the first commercial mass-produced vehicle equipped with high-performance laser radar, which can achieve active safety and highway automatic driving functions."

In recent years, Luminar Technologies has transformed from a start-up company to a listed company, and has its own businesses in Florida and Silicon Valley in the United States. Luminar has started to produce Iris lidar sensors and shipped them to SAIC Motor, and produced Iris lidar units for the electric SUV model Feifan R7 of SAIC Motor. Its sensors are also used in Volvo's new electric SUV EX90 and the upcoming Polestar 3 SUV.

Source: OFweek