Luminar says it has begun production of its automotive lidar units ahead of schedule

Automotive sensor institution Luminar said it has begun accumulation of its Iris lidar units for an automaker client, a large milestone that it had antecedently expected to scope astir year-end.

Luminar's lidar units are portion of an precocious driver-assist strategy connected the Rising Auto R7, a caller electrical SUV from the largest Chinese automaker, SAIC Motor. The commencement of accumulation follows months of testing, successful which prototype R7s utilizing the caller strategy covered implicit 400,000 kilometers connected roads crossed China, Luminar said.

"After 10 years of innovating, prototyping, developing, industrializing, each this stuff, we've yet deed the large inflection point," CEO Austin Russell told CNBC successful an interrogation connected Wednesday. "Autonomous exertion has for the archetypal clip evolved from R&D into user accumulation vehicles."

The announcement comes alongside Luminar's third-quarter results, successful which the institution reported an adjusted nonaccomplishment of 18 cents per stock connected gross of $12.8 million. A twelvemonth ago, Luminar reported a nonaccomplishment of 10 cents per stock and gross of $8 cardinal for the 3rd 4th of 2021.

Luminar besides confirmed its erstwhile guidance: It inactive expects to make $40 cardinal to $45 cardinal successful gross for the afloat year. Luminar had $553 cardinal successful currency connected manus arsenic of the extremity of the 3rd quarter, down from $605 cardinal successful currency arsenic of June 30.

Luminar antecedently announced deals to proviso different automakers including Volvo Cars and Polestar, but it hadn't antecedently revealed plans to statesman accumulation of the Iris units earlier than 2023. Luminar's lidar volition beryllium modular instrumentality connected Volvo's upcoming electrical flagship SUV, the EX90, acceptable to beryllium revealed adjacent week.

The upcoming electrical Polestar 3 SUV volition besides diagnostic Luminar's lidar units successful an optional driver-assist bundle that volition beryllium disposable adjacent year, Polestar confirmed past month.

The lidar units are being made successful a mill successful Mexico owned by Canadian electronics shaper Celestica. Celestica and Luminar are unneurotic gathering a caller dedicated factory, besides successful Mexico, that volition beryllium capable to manufacture 250,000 Iris units per year. That mill is connected way to statesman accumulation successful mid-2023, Russell said.