Luminar, Mercedes-Benz expand deal for self-driving tech

Luminar Technologies

22/02/2023 18:30

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Self-driving sensor maker Luminar
Technologies Inc  LAZR.O  announced an expanded partnership with
Mercedes-Benz Group  MBGn.DE  on Wednesday to enable fully
automated driving for its next-generation vehicles. 
    Automakers from Tesla Inc  TSLA.O  to General Motors  GM.N 
are focusing on autonomous vehicles, but technological and
regulatory hurdles remain. 
    Tech firms such as Alphabet Inc's  GOOGL.O  Waymo and
Aptiv-Hyundai Motor joint venture, Motional, are also looking to
develop autonomous vehicles for commercial use.
    Luminar will supply the German carmaker with lidars, which
use laser light pulses to measure the distance between the
sensor and an object and are widely seen as essential to
achieving full autonomous driving.
    Luminar and Mercedes-Benz had announced a partnership in
January last year.
    Palo Alto, California-based Luminar also said it plans to
build a factory in Asia to support the multi-billion dollar
deal.
    Luminar teamed up with Volvo Cars  VOLCARb.ST  and announced
in January last year that a hands-free driving system called
"Ride Pilot", which will allow the car to fully take over
driving tasks in some limited situations, would be first
released in California.
 (Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Editing by
Krishna Chandra Eluri)
 ((Samrhitha.A@thomsonreuters.com))