Automotive technology company Luminar has announced the expansion of its partnership with Mercedes for advanced automated driving capabilities for the company’s next generation of vehicles. Luminar’s Iris first went into series production in October 2022, marking the successful completion of the company’s Mercedes Benz program. After two years of close cooperation between the two companies, Mercedes Benz is preparing to widely deploy Luminar’s Iris lidar and associated software technology in its next generation of vehicles.
The new generation of Iris has been customized to meet the demanding requirements of Mercedes Benz. The new system will offer faster autonomous travel on highways and advanced driver assistance systems in the city. This new multi-billion dollar deal is important for both companies as well as for the development of the technical competence and safety of autonomous driving systems. “Mercedes’ standards for vehicle safety and performance are among the highest in the industry, and their decision to double down on Luminar reinforces that commitment. We are now set to enable the broadest scale deployment of this technology in the industry. It’s been an incredible sprint so far, and we are fully committed to making this happen – together with Mercedes-Benz.” said Austin Russell, Founder and CEO of Luminar.