Luminar is going public in a $3.4B merger to sell "eyes" for self-driving cars
Incoming: triple cliché... Self-driving tech, a SPAC, and a Peter Thiel-backed startup — sounds like the perfect recipe for a summer 2020 IPO. Luminar makes lidar tech that allows self-driving cars to "see" their surroundings. The lidar method involves shining lasers at objects to measure their distances. By measuring the time a laser takes to hit something, lidar sensors build out 3D maps of environments (like the 405 at rush hour).
- Luminar is going public via SPAC merger. A SPAC is essentially a company without a company. SPACs go public for the sole purpose of one day acquiring a real company (in this case, Luminar).
- Luminar will be worth $3.4B after it merges with Gores Metropoulos (sounds like a Russian hotel, actually the SPAC). Gores stock jumped 8% on the surprise acquisition.
Take me to your lidar... Luminar is a 3-year-old company with a 25-year-old CEO. But it's trying to tackle a decades-old issue: how to bring autonomous vehicles to streets. Besides government regulation, there are 2 main obstacles preventing self-driving from going mainstream:
- Safety: Driverless vehicles are still sweat-inducing. Luminar is pitching advanced safety of its sensors, which identify objects from 250 meters away (even in the dark).
- Cost: Lidar sensors can cost carmakers tens of thousands of $$$ — Luminar hopes to differentiate itself by bringing down the price of these autonomous eyes.
Luminar has a unique go-to-market strategy... Self-driving peers like Google's Waymo focus on introducing robotaxis first — Luminar is focused on getting its sensors in regular cars first. While others see robotaxis as a gateway to autonomous domination, Luminar sees them as a longer-term play. Volvo will be using Luminar's sensors for hands-free highway driving in 2022 — it's also a Luminar investor. These high-profile partnerships could help Luminar's tech go mainstream.