Over the past few years, automotive trends and consumer focus have shifted from horsepower to brainpower and luxury to technology. Consumers care less about what a vehicle has and more about what a car can do.
Austin Russell, the CEO and founder of Luminar, a leading automotive technology company, shared the organization’s new vision to become the first automotive technology company to break through to the consumer.
“For the first time, people are seeing truly transformational differences in the driving experience and what is possible,” Russell explained. Luminar-equipped vehicles are already on the roads in China, and that’s just a start.
Unlike most automotive technology companies focused on replacing the driver, Luminar is focused on enhancing the driver experience rather than eliminating it altogether. The North American debut of SAIC Rising Auto R7 EV equipped with Luminar integrated into the roof line and the upcoming release of the Volvo EX90 present the future of sleek and savvy-looking electric vehicles.
In 2022, an “intense year” for the company, as Russsell describe, four key targets were set and accomplished by the company: The start of production, the development of the beta version of Centennial, a holistic software solution for next-generation safety and autonomy, new luminal powered production consumer vehicle models were contracted, and the company exceeded their financial goal of 60% year over year growth in revenue.
The company has set a goal to have one million Luminar-equipped vehicles on the road in the second half of this decade, an estimate backed by knowledge and trends from the company and automakers. Russel also noted that Luminar has redefined maps from standard definition to high definition and now plans to create “the first accurate, comprehensive, up-to-date map of the world in 3-D,” the CEO followed with confidence that the company will talk about how they are going to make this happen beyond forecasted doubts.
Luminar has the opportunity to save 100 million lives and 1000 trillion hours on the road within the next 100 years. Russel encouraged CES conference attendees to stop by the Luminar booth to see vehicles live, take a ride, and to pick a comparison vehicle to test drive. ‘“ It’s a big thing to be able to see companies continue to double down on us, put us on more production vehicles models, and really betting the future of their companies and roadmap on Luminar,” Russell said.
