Mercedes-Benz and Luminar Technologies, Inc. have announced a partnership to accelerate development of future automated driving technologies for passenger cars. The intent of this partnership is to leverage the lidar technology from Luminar with the aim to industrialise and integrate it into series production Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
As part of the partnership, Mercedes-Benz says it will enable Luminar with ‘a data driven development approach for continuous product improvement and updates’.
Luminar’s Iris lidar technology, which is currently being prepared for series production, is expected to improve vehicle safety and the technical capabilities of highly automated driving systems.
Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, Chief Technology Officer responsible for Development and Procurement, says: “Luminar is the perfect addition to our existing roster of first-class cooperations with leading and cutting–edge tech companies. Mercedes-Benz’s achievement of SAE Level 3 already marked a huge milestone for automated driving and I am absolutely convinced that partnerships will increase our level of ambition for what is possible in future. Cooperation is an essential part of Mercedes-Benz’s strategy. Therefore, I am highly delighted to have Austin Russell and Luminar on board for our journey.”
“This partnership is a landmark moment in the industry, demonstrating how substantially increased safety and autonomous driving functions on consumer vehicles are going from sci-fi to mainstream,” adds Austin Russell, Founder and CEO of Luminar. “Mercedes-Benz has always been a technological leader and first mover for the industry, with the brand synonymous with automotive innovation, safety, luxury, and quality.”
For the past decade, Luminar has built an advanced hardware and software platform to enable its more than 50 industry partners, including the majority of global automotive OEMs.
From Volvo Cars for consumer vehicles and Daimler Truck AG for commercial trucks, to tech partners NVIDIA and Intel’s Mobileye, Luminar is the first automotive technology company to enable next-generation safety and autonomous capabilities for production vehicles.
