Unpacking Luminar's new Mercedes-Benz LiDAR Deal
Self-driving is coming, better late than never.
Hey Guys,
To be clear I’m totally okay with Mercedes-Benz integrating a “Supercomputer” in their cars. I think that’s awesome clickbait as far as the evolution of the smart car goes, but I’m really watching a stock I like, Luminar, LAZR 0.00%↑ Luminar Technologies.
While not exactly a MobileEye MBLY 0.00%↑ here, and with robo-taxis very late, I’m still bullish on Luminar as the LiDAR leader of the pack. Luminar Technologies Inc. is an American technology company that develops vision-based lidar and machine perception technologies, primarily for self-driving cars.
The stock went up about 28% on the News this week, went back down, and went back up, more or less 15% up. So what’s the big deal? LiDAR stocks have been totally shattered in the growth tech route of 2022.
Luminar’s lidar units will be offered on a broad range of Mercedes-Benz models starting mid-decade. It’s being considered a multi-billion dollar expansion of the partnership and looks like Luminar’s best bet so far of real revenue generation. Lidar, which is essentially laser-based radar, is another set of eyes for cars. It makes possible higher-functioning driver-assistance features such as Pilot Assist from Volvo. LiDAR is seen as essentially for fully autonomous vehicles by most big players.
As the cost of the tech goes down, so will the adoption go up.
The lidar units will be part of a significantly upgraded hands-free driving system that Mercedes-Benz plans to roll out across its lineup.
Luminar only has a market cap of $2.7 Billion so if you believe in its leadership in the space, it’s a fascinating name for robo-taxi watchers of stocks like me.
I’m maybe a Austin Russell’s fan at this point, as disastrous as those EV and LiDAR SPACs of 2021 look today.
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