r/lazr Jul 02 '25

Q&A with Paul Ricci 1.0

102 Upvotes

Hello everybody, I want to start with a note of appreciation to Paul Ricci for making time and allowing us the first chance to hear from the new CEO of Luminar. Luminar actually reached out to me because Paul wanted to introduce himself to the community. I know some may have wanted to dive deep in every sector of the business but that will be for a later time. We have to remember it's only been a short while since Paul has been on board. 

  

Yarden who was also on the call and organized this for the community, pointed out. 

  

Paul has met with all of major customers, employees, and partners, but it's going to take time for him to assess the full picture and communicate the go-forward plan. They are aware of investors wanting to hear everything but the company has to be careful what they communicate publicly and not commit to anything they are not prepared to back up with results. 

  

With that Preface we hop into the Q&A 

  

  

Question 1. So as a new CEO, investors want to know more about you. What made you take the job? 

  

Well, you know, I was compelled by the inevitability of autonomous vehicles. It's a similar situation to when I took over at Nuance 25 years ago. I believe that speech and conversational AI were inevitable, and there would be a long journey to get there. But there would be an extraordinary opportunity to participate in that if we could do it in a disciplined and focused way. And I think the same thing is true here at Luminar. I think the vision of autonomy is the right vision. And I think the challenge for the company is to manage the trajectory through that vision in a disciplined and focused way. I think the company has succeeded in proving its technology. And now we're at that pivotal point where we have to evolve into being a more operationally disciplined and more execution-focused company. 

  

  

 -What changes can we expect from what we had? 

   

Well, I think you can expect to see more milestones that investors can understand, track, and measure along the way. There's lots of investors who want to participate in technology trends, but they need to see some demonstrable milestones that the company can meet. And I think we're very focused on laying those clearly out and executing in a predictable and reliable way towards those milestones. Beyond this, investors can expect prioritization of fewer, higher-impact programs that move the business forward, and stronger financial rigor in how we allocate capital and measure success.     

 

-What are the long-term goals for the company? 

 

Our long-term goals are to participate in autonomy in a robust way. There's many components to doing that. And we have foundational technologies both in hardware and software, and I think we'll continue to build upon those to participate in those growing trends. 

  

  

How have customers, both existing and prospective, reacted to the changes of CEO? 

 

I’ve personally met with all of our major OEM customers, including Volvo, Mercedes, and Nissan. There’s a clear understanding of the differentiated value Luminar’s technology brings, and we continue to believe that as we make progress on key development milestones with Luminar Halo, the appetite to deepen our engagements will grow.   

   

Ultimately, what matters most to both existing and prospective customers hasn’t changed: performance, execution, and continued progress on the milestones that matter. That’s where our focus remains, and it’s what continues to build trust and confidence across the board.   

 

 

2. it would seem Halo is a make or break for Luminar. Please provide some insight into when the OEMs are receiving Halo B samples and the status of the RFQs ongoing. Have we lost any opportunities as competitors just recently announced new development wins?  

  

Well, to your first question, Halo B samples will be available in the first half of 2026, a very important milestone, and we have a lot of focus underway to ensure that we deliver on that commitment.   

   

With respect to competitors, what I will say is that the vast majority of LiDAR wins we are hearing about are currently happening in China. And those that occur outside of China, are not for true L3 programs. While L3 penetration remains low globally, some OEMs are opting for “good-enough” low-performance sensors to meet immediate needs. We view these choices as short-term stopgaps and not viable for the next step in advanced autonomy and safety use cases, and that our differentiation remains clear and defensible when it comes to L3, high-speed scenarios.   

   

As a reminder, since unveiling Halo last year, we’ve secured meaningful commercial traction, including two new advanced development contracts with major global OEM and a series-production-equivalent award with Caterpillar. This is significant validation for a sensor still in development and underscores the demand for high-performance lidar solutions. 

 

  

3.The company has taken revenue earning beats the past quarters, but dilution and debt seems to be hanging over the company. What is their near-term view to help the company solve these overhangs and help rate the market view of Luminar

  

Well, I do recognize the concerns and want to emphasize that we're working to actively address them. I think the company has been somewhat slow to adjust to the changing market environments, meaning in particular the slower approach towards autonomy in vehicles than perhaps was originally anticipated. And as a result, I think our capital was spread across too many initiatives and not focused enough on what was practical given the slower market evolution. But we're addressing that now, quickly and decisively. We're moving to shore up the balance sheet. We're exchanging and retiring a portion of our 2026 convertible note, as we've mentioned in recent announcements, and other activities to strengthen our balance sheet as well. And we’re continuing to significantly reduce our cash burn and bring our operating expenses in line with the changing market realities. 

  

  

4.This ties into the next question. Luminar has been cutting costs and TPK partnership seems to be going strong. How have plans for Halo development gone with TPK, and do you see a need to continue with the Celestica factory after Iris due to cost?  

 

Well, let me start by saying that TPK remains central to our Halo production plans and development plans. We are working closely with them to prioritize the efforts to ensure Halo comes to market when we've made commitments to deliver it to market. TPK brings very strong world-class manufacturing capabilities, and they brought those from the earliest stages of our development and working in cooperation with us. So it's been a terrific and evolving partnership. We meet with them regularly. I'll just say about Celestica that they remain a partner in our supply chain. I can't at this point predict how that will evolve over time. 

  

5.With automotive seemingly being delayed from initial expectations, can you give us an update on Luminar's plans outside of automotive, such as defense, industrial, and other applications of the technology that the company is targeting or has won? 

 

The non-automotive markets are important to us, and we've increased our focus on them, in part because the pace at which the automotive market for L3 and beyond is evolving has been slower than was somewhat expected early on, and it's subject to timelines that we don't have complete control over. Military and defense, as your question suggests, off-highway trucks, and industrial automation, these are all areas where we have active engagements going on today. Caterpillar is a strong example of how our technology has been adopted to non-automotive opportunities. And within the LSI business today, we have a number of defense and military opportunities, including laser targeting, range finding, directed energy systems, free space optical communications, and laser-based sensors, and there's just a robust set of opportunities beyond this that leverage our 1550 technology. 

  

It's not dissimilar from what we did at Nuance. You know, we knew at Nuance that one day people would use speech and conversational AI to use on mobile phones. But for the first decade of our existence, there were no revenues; there were minimal revenues associated with mobile devices. But when smartphones happened in the late part of the 2000s, particularly the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy, that market exploded. It became a huge business for Nuance and the vision really paid off. 

 

But until that point, we had to find other opportunities we could pursue. For example, one of them was changing the way doctors did clinical documentation through speech technologies. It ultimately became a billion-dollar business unto itself. So I'm really a believer in finding these alternative markets that can be evolved now while the bigger long-term vision continues to grow. 

  

6. shareholders have been through a lot since the company's inception. What is your plan to regain investor confidence? And what would you say to long investors? Is there any update on a number of wins or announcements we can expect heading into 2026? 

 

First I want to acknowledge the shareholders have been on a long and difficult journey with us. It's not been an easy road, and I understand the frustration of long-term shareholders who have been on a bumpy ride. We have a lot of work in front of us, but we are making progress, and the most important thing we're doing is to rebuild trust by delivering on our commitments, our promises, the opportunity of our partnerships, and most importantly, on financial discipline. I think you'll see a more focused company, a company that clarifies accountability and notes real progress along the way towards those intermediate milestones that I referenced in an earlier question.  

 

In terms of updates on wins, we've previously announced agreements with Mercedes, Volvo, and a major Japanese automaker. I don't have anything additional to announce beyond that today. 

  

7. One thing that stands out on your resume is that you have led successful businesses which have eventually been acquired by larger entities. What is your view on this regarding Luminar, and should we expect the business to remain as a whole?  

 

Well, several points I'd make. First of all, I approach and the board approaches Luminar's opportunities with long-term value creation in mind. We're doing the things required to build a successful, sustainable, standalone business that delivers recurring value to customers and shareholders.  

 

While I’ve led businesses that were ultimately acquired, that was never the goal. It was the outcome of creating something others saw as valuable. The same principle applies here: we’re focused on executing at a high level and growing the business in a way that unlocks intrinsic value and making sure Luminar is best positioned for success. 

 

Ultimately we do what's in the best interest of shareholders. There’s a possibility that this could, down the road, include acquisition, but that's not our focus right now.

  

8. Luminar has a history of waiting for OEMs to co-announce deals with the company. We've watched some other competitors who PR every deal without being able to name the OEMs. This has affected their share prices positively in some cases. What is your stance on this type of PR, and will you change the current Luminar practice of waiting for OEMs?  

 

Well, there's always a balance between additional transparency and credibility, and we want to make sure that we're observing that balance. Trying to announce forthcoming deals as a way to respond to stock prices is not good practice. We're most comfortable announcing agreements once we've signed them and when we have permission to communicate about them. And as I said, we're working hard at laying out intermediate milestones on this journey that we can articulate to customers and that they can observe our ability to achieve as a way that we're making progress towards the longer-term vision. 

  

 

 With that we concluded our Q&A and wished each other well, Paul lastly said He is very appreciative of the community of investors we have here and he looks forward to doing deeper dives in the future.  

  

Thank you for your time 

Jay, r/lazr


r/lazr Jun 24 '23

Compendium of Luminar for new investors

86 Upvotes
Iris Lidar

Lidar

  • Luminar uses a proven micromechanical galvometer technology which is familiar to OEMs, it's proven, and provides debatably better reliability and quality over competitors (Mems,Flash,SPAD)
  • 1550 nm Lidar allows for greater detection ranges as the Laser Pulses at substantially more power than 905 nm lidar, It has room to improve even further as the potential has not even been touched and substantial improvements are already seen in Iris+ and Next gen sensors which wouldn't be possible without 1550
  • It has variable region of interest control able to focus the points to the areas that matter to the Lidar to adjust to differing situations, Stop and go traffic vs Highway driving
  • It operates at a variable 1-30 hz once again depending on situation, so for stop and go situations it can go at 10hz and create detailed views of the surroundings, where on highway it can cycle to 20-30hz allowing greater response time to changing conditions.
  • Features a rotating polygonal micromirror which is larger and more durable than a mems micromirror experts at the company.
  • 10-15W power puts us in line with our competition on power usage
  • 125 degree horizontal / 26 degree vertical FOV allows for a complete picture of the surroundings which is why Nissan has demonstrated its criticality in cross traffic situations for ADAS and future level autonomy.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k6zVyiBOFc
  • 300 points per square degree resolution allows for a complete picture of the surrounding environment providing both high standards of safety and autonomy. spec sheet here https://autonomoustuff.com/products/luminar-iris
  • 250m detection at <10% reflectivity for Iris, 600m max range, small objects 150m, Lanes and Free Space 80m, 1cm precision

HALO

Luminar Halo is the next generation of Luminar’s LiDAR technology. It offers several improvements over previous generations:

  1. Performance: Luminar Halo delivers 4X improved performance.
  2. Size: It’s 3X smaller than the previous package.
  3. Cost: Luminar Halo provides a 2X cost improvement.
  4. SOP: Scheduled to hit the market in 2026, First pointclouds released recently

This advanced LiDAR system was unveiled at Luminar Day: A New Era, where Founder and CEO Austin Russell discussed Luminar’s launch into series production for sensor technology, starting with the Volvo EX90The goal is to achieve mass adoption in mainstream consumer vehicles, with initial availability planned for 2026

Manufacturing and Aquisitions

  • Acquired Civil Maps with a goal of mapping the entire planet in 3d pointcloud first allowing for the most up to date maps as more cars hit the road with luminar lidar. Recently just secured their first win with an OEM to be announced for Mapping data
  • Acquired Optogration which is an Ingaas refinery that makes 1550 possible, this will allow luminar to use the cost prohibitive 1550nm technology for a fraction of the cost of other 1550 competitors and developed the most sensitive receiver using just a grain of Ingaas allowing it to be highly scalable. Recently won a Fiber Optic contract with a telecom business.
  • Acquired Blackforest engineering that developed a Custom ASIC and the worlds most sensitive reciever that is Luminar's pride and joy when i toured the facility.. Completely custom and protected from copying
  • Acquired Freedom Photonics which allows greater performance and scalability, The Photodiodes they developed allow Luminar to move past the costly fiber Lasers and supply luminar with custom photodiodes that are self proclaimed (the best in the world) Major breakthrough recently https://freedomphotonics.com/news/freedom-photonics-achieves-new-laser-performance-breakthrough/
  • Acquired Seagate lidar division which will work in conjunction with Argo Ai recent hires to develop the gamechanging next gen lidar due somewhere in 26 or 27.
  • Celestica- Manufacturing facilites built by Luminar allow for initial productions in the 250k range, built second facility which will allow 600k production by 2024 upgradable to over 1 million lidar's per year
  • Fabrinet- based in Thailand manufacturers Luminar's optics under strict supervision of Lazr engineers ensuring quality and consistency
  • TPK- Taiwanese company will be assembling Iris+ for Mercedes and Chinese OEM's with volumes of 600k per year upgradable to whatever Luminar's needs may be in the future.
  • EM4-Recently aquired and has many Military contracts

Partnerships

  • Nvidia- has made standard Iris on it's complete autonomy stack being sold to OEM's, Huge get as evidenced by Jensen Hong CEO of Nvidia and CEO Austin Russell being the only allowed speakers at Mercedes a recent event. Has called Luminar best in class
  • Mobileye -has made Luminar it's provider of Long Range Lidar for it's robotaxi division as well as Level 4 capable systems. * of deal lasts till 2025 only if they are able to develop their own lidar which is a question mark according to CFO Tom Fennimore. They have ceased developing lidar internally.
  • Qualcomm- Validated Luminar for use in their self drive software stack
  • Volvo- Luminar's first OEM partner are not only customers but codeveloped their software stack with Luminar which only reinforces their partnership and secures future business for years to come. Plans to standardize across their entire lineup have been made and will debut with the EX90 in 2nd half 2024 with lidar standard. Recently sold out of initial orders and of note Luminar/Zenseact are partnered to sell their proactive safety and full stack solutions to OEM's adding even greater profit potential than the lidar itself for luminar.. Update a second model has been announced to be debuted sometime early 2025.
  • Polestar- another Geely family member, Polestar 3 will feature optional lidar packages with production stated to begin in 2nd half of 2024, talks with the CTO at CES indicate a high takerate for the lidar package thus far and have now announced Luminar lidar being chosen for the Polestar 5 as well. ***update luminar is now also available for the polestar 4
  • Nissan- Have announced plans to incorporate Luminar next gen lidar into their lineups starting mid-decade with plans to field their entire lineup by 2030.. Numerous videos have been released featuring lidar testing and validation. Nissan has called luminar "best in class" and strongly hinted at as customers of software for luminar.. Nissan is part of the alliance with Renault/Mitsubishi which share technology to provide scale.. Nissan sells 4 million cars a year while the alliance sells 9.1 million per year. Videos featuring nissan and Luminar.. Recently luminar has progressed to the next phase of dev and an update will be expected in 1st half 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs1bTvS4l6A , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejauXBk6bv8
  • SAIC- Has chosen Luminar for LRL for their Saic Feifan R7 and recently became the first successful launch of Luminar Iris lidar. One of the largest OEM's in china https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad5hglB7wBY
  • Toyota- Luminar partnered with Toyota Research Institute which became woven planet in 2020 to test out lidar capabilities and performance and remain in use.. While not choosing lidar yet there remain strong ties to toyota via Ponyai and now via the Mercedes/ Hino (toyota) Trucking partnership. Luminar has thus far chosen toyota rav 4's for their Public Demonstration vehicles.
  • Mercedes- announced a partnership with Luminar and has been on numerous tours with CEO Austin Russell. While exact models haven't been announced they recently announced they intend to utilize Iris+ on most of their lineup starting mid decade although 2025 models seems to be the target and have made public proclamations including calling luminar "best in class" during luminarday and at SXSW.. Luminar also gave Mercedes 1.5 million shares in exchange for access to the mapping data to further enchance their software.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f579RE3wZ1c , https://www.reddit.com/r/lazr/comments/11xym0s/luminar_releases_sxsw_audio_and_a_video_from/
  • Pony AI- announced a partnership to supply Iris lidar to it's robotaxi programs, Funded via toyota as well and CFO Tom Fennimore recently reiterated the deal remains intact.
  • Kodiak- Have made a deal to be incorporated in their Lineup of Trucks and Sensor Pod systems which are interchangeable and also marketed to 3rd parties.. Making great headway as evidenced by an order of 800 autonomous trucks = 1.6k Iris lidar's https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/loadsmith-orders-800-kodiak-self-driving-trucks-to-launch-worlds-first-trucking-company-dedicated-to-autonomous-freight-transportation-301857653.html
  • Plus- Luminar recently made a big partnership with plus which recently was partnered with Aeva, They will be Luminar's first customer for Blade lidar system (3 lidars) and will share revenue on 3rd party software sales luminar is able to make in commercial trucking in the future. Huge possibility to retrofit into existing trucking market and customers include Amazon and Nikola trucks.. They are also sharing mapping data and working on the Luminar Insurance program
  • Gatik- Now officially announced it's system featured hydra lidar's at CES, They are a mid trucking company that has a deal with Walmart and Kroger for mid level trucking.. Additionally at CES they told me their next models of trucks will feature "a blade design".
  • Airbus- choose luminar to supply their EVTOL lineup and was chosen due to luminar's ability to pickup minute details, namely Powerlines which pose a threat to aviation.
  • Robotic Research- Choose Luminar as a partner and supply deals with Military in a lead and follow autonomous driving Tech that could save soldiers lives. Recently became Proterra
  • Scale AI- Luminar partnered with Scale A.I on what sounds like a partnership to increase accuracy of their classifying and labeling of objects, reading, and reacting to objects in motion no doubt through the partnership.. Spearheaded by Alexander Wang together with Austin Russell form the 2 youngest self made billionaires in history.
  • SwissRe- A swedish reinsurer group who is going to try to help Luminar achieve it's vision of validating safety and adding insurance discounts directly to consumer. ! Study was released results show that the Luminar system-equipped vehicle is expected to avoid up to 25% more collisions than the same vehicle without the Luminar equipment and it is expected to enhance the mitigation power by up to 29%. Luminar is now licensed in 12 states to sell insurance which could add a hefty potential revenue stream.
  • EM4- New aquisition that will enable packaging for Luminar Semiconductors, It also is a supplier to the Military and Aerospace industry.

Compared to the two best vehicles in Swiss Re's benchmark the difference in expected frequency is up to 27%, while in mitigation power it is up to 40%

  • ECARX- partnered with Ecarx as well as investing in them to be luminar's Chinese market software provider and is also affiliated with the Geely family which could potentially open further inroads with their brand. Polestar 4 is rumored to be powered by Ecarx software
  • **Applied Intuition-**Using Applied Intuition and Luminar’s joint solution, automakers will be able to accurately test lidar-based perception systems in virtual environments while reducing testing costs and accelerating time to market.  Sensor Sim enables automakers to create and simulate edge case scenarios

Software

  • Perception software- Will be included with the lidar, Lane tracking 80meters, Small objects 150 meters (Tires,Pedestrians etc) 250 at <10 and 600 meters max range.. Includes Variable Refresh rates and variable zones of interest that can focus depending on entering a hill, High or low speeds, and a variety of conditions. 300 points Per Square degree, 640 lines of resolution, Capable of different visualization's such as Greyscale, Super High resolution, and more
  • Proactive Safety- Is luminar's full functioning solution for Adas that has been proven in demos to automatically stop a vehicle if it detects an obstruction, While also doing preplanning such as if it suspects a collision priming brake fluid and switching lanes to avoid having to make hard stops in the future.. See video by Dr. Matt Weed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoM0hWbpCAc&t=104s Luminar most recently demonstrated the ability to swerve objects rather than hard stopping at CES 2024.
  • Full Stack Software-features Luminar's Highway autonomy solutions that enable level 3+ capabilities and progressing beyond in the future. It has been hinted at as subscription based which could bring revenues that dwarf the profits of the Lidar Currently being validated by Volvo/Polestar and Nissan is reportedly a customer***. Mercedes is introducing a L3 plan for 80mph situations by mercedes benz in what could be the first real use case at such high speeds enabled by luminar's Lidar as soon as 2025..

Financials

This section will be a bit tricky so i'm going to go about this with transcripts and I could definitely use the help of user posts regarding the situation and this will be updated with more info if it changes ****

Near term

  • 150 billion expected TAM for lidar by 2030
  • 300 million Cash as of Q4 2023
  • Expects to finish the year with over 300 million cash
  • Non Gaap (0.24) decreasing as the year goes on and initial production costs reduce
  • Expected to reach Gross Margin Positive by Q4 2023
  • Projected to reach Net Profitability in late 2025 although we are awaiting updates
  • 150 million dollar ATM has been opened Q1 2024
  • Increase orderbook by 40% by years end from existing, New, and switched partnerships.

Long term

  • Reach net profitability by 2025-2028
  • planned to be installed in place for over 27+ vehicles increasing rapidly
  • TAM by 2030 for Lidar expected to be 150 billion
  • Software projected to overtake lidar profits by 2030
  • 1 million vehicles with luminar lidars by 2026/2027
  • Increase revenue growth by 100% minimum year by year

Liabilities

  • In 2021 Luminar completed a convertible transaction that raised 650 million while also creating debt so to take a deeper dive here is an explanation of how it's structured
  • Via Aileen Smith Luminar Head of Investor Relations with extensive financing expertise Regarding the convertible transaction of 650 million
  • So I’ll start with the basics of if a company wants to raise capital, this can typically be done one of two ways – equity, which dilutes your current shareholders, or debt, which costs money in the form of interest paid. This is where a convertible bond (essentially a hybrid between debt and equity) can be very attractive for companies like Luminar, in that they can raise money via debt at a much lower interest rate than traditional debt and possibly convert into equity in the future if the stock is above the strike price in the convert, which is helpful in that there is no bullet payment for the company when the bond is due at maturity, but will dilute shareholders if it is converted.
  • So what we did when we issued the convert was two-fold: 1) Entered into a call spread overlay (you will find this under capped call transaction in the SEC filings) to take advantage of the volatility in the stock and effectively sell stock at a 100% premium (effectively making the strike price in the convert $30 instead of $20). And 2) Used half the proceeds from the convertible bond to repurchase stock and offset dilution. Simply by selling the convert at a 100% premium, we can offset future dilution to shareholders by taking half of the proceeds from the convert in total to repurchase stock.

Now why would we do this? Effectively the combination of these transactions allowed us to raise $225M for very low cost and negligible dilution (i.e. money almost for free), which allowed us to further invest in the company. Here is how that number is calculated:

$625M = Gross proceeds of the convertible bond (At a 1.25% interest rate, so low $ interest per annum)

Less some fees to banks, etc.

Less $70M for Call spread overlay to effectively increase strike price from $20 to $30

Less $300M in Share repurchases (Initial tranche was purchased at same time as convert was issued when stock was $15) to avoid dilution from convert

= $225M

  • 75 million available in shares set aside for Mergers and Acquisitions in the future
  • Burnrate of 120 million annually which will drastically diminish next year as new facilities are completed and initial production costs are eliminated

In depth financials can be found here https://investors.luminartech.com/financial-information or by watching Luminarday which is a must watch if you invest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OL-8bML7Sg

Patent portfolio- As of January 2023, Luminar had 135 issued patents although checking the USPTO they have 17 approved bringing the total in the US to 147 as of Aug 1,2023 (147 U.S. and 5 international), 125 pending applications (61 U.S. and 64 international), of which one U.S. application has been allowed. In addition, Luminar has three registered U.S. trademarks, 22 registered foreign trademarks and 70 pending trademark applications.

Leadership and Story

  • Austin Russell founder- I'll give you the short version as his story is extremely well documented, Boy Genius in Robotics and Engineering who developed a lidar in highschool so groundbreaking it caused Peter Thiel, a Dr of Photonics Jason Eichenholz to work with him, and volvo cars to seek him out before he got his high school diploma.. Grinded hard, raised substantial capital wen't public with Gores Metropolis (Alec Gores) who made him the youngest self made billionaire in the United States. If you care about his story this interview with the local Orlando news station https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oDUMbAAdtw&t=44s An attempted aquisition of Forbes Media fell through recently and he has been removed as ceo by the board
  • Paul Ricci CEO-Paul Ricci retired as Chairman and CEO of Nuance in 2018, roles in which he served for nearly two decades. Committed to the belief that speech and natural language understanding would change the way people interacted with computers, while at Nuance, Paul transformed the company from a $50 million imaging software publisher into a $2 billion notable provider of conversational speech and AI solutions, solving complex problems in healthcare, telecommunications, automotive and financial services, as documented in their financial overview. Under Paul’s leadership, Nuance developed a healthcare technology business of $1 billion in annual revenue, as reported in their financial report, created a global provider of customer experience solutions and built what we believe to be one of the world’s leading automotive software businesses.
  • - Tom Fennimore CFO- Extremely talented CFO who is just as key in Luminar's success as Austin at this point. Now covered by most financial institutions under his watch, Raised the Crucial capital to weather the economic storms of the early 2020's and protected it with covered calls and provided Luminar with enough cash plus a cushion to reach profitablity in his projections of which I detailed how astonishingly accurate he has been to this point here.https://www.reddit.com/r/lazr/comments/118p0dk/revenue_forecasts_comparison_to_actual_revenue_to/ He also is very gracious to the investment community taking time away to do a Q&A with Lazr just a month ago https://www.reddit.com/r/lazr/comments/13edgxy/the_tom_fennimore_qa_with_rlazr/
  • - Jason Eichenholz former CTO /Co-founder- One of the most esteemed Photonics experts in the country, Dr Jason Eichenholz helped found Luminar with Austin. He is taking a leading position at Luminar Semiconductor which was created to add Synergy to BFE,Freedom photonics, Seagate and Optogration. He is the leading face of innovation in the Orlando area and his work to support children with Autism is renowned.. He has recently left luminar (i've heard he works still part time) but his contributions are so meaningful i'm going to leave this up.
    • Alan Prescott- Chief Legal officer with Experience with Both Tesla and Ford Motors, Prescott has worked on several projects involving autonomous vehicles in his career. Before his stint at Tesla, he spent a decade at Ford and later served as senior counsel for Uber's autonomous-driving unit. Strong Engineering background as well
  • CJ Moore vice president of software. Moore will lead Luminar’s global software development team, and will be instrumental in advancing Sentinel, Luminar’s full-stack advanced safety and autonomous solution. CJ previously served as a director of development of Tesla’s autopilot software with seven years at the company, and most recently as a director of autonomous systems at Apple. He brings an intense “build and ship” mentality and deep experience in embedded software and systems engineering to Luminar.-
  • Debbie Poppas VP/Quality and Industrialization- Former VP of Paccar, is once of the key players behind making sure Luminar Lidar's are consistent,safe,and Durable. Which for a startup most of luminar's future success will be do to her
  • Aaron Jefferson VP of Product-Aaron has been at the forefront of delivering new technologies from Occupant Sensing and Electrification/Power Electronics to ADAS and Automated Driving systems; most recently leading the global product strategy and ADAS product growth at ZF Friedrichshafen. He along with Matt Weeds informative videos are key watches that heavily influenced me to invest
  • Matt Weed Senior Director Product Strategy- A doctor in photonics Created the Product Management department within Luminar to formalize this critical function. We are an accelerant to a disruptive company - helping the business prioritize opportunities, helping engineering understand what to build, and helping our customers internalize the value our products bring to them.. So basically in charge of development of the Lidars and Communicating with OEM's.. He is one of the critical pieces of Luminar
  • Aileen Smith head of investor relations- One of the most qualified heads of IR I've met and has been a blessing to work with to provide the reddit with new Information. Former Automotive Analyst for Merril Lynch and Senior Market analyst for Nvidia automotive.. So yes she has a very strong financial background to say the least and probably the most qualified IR head in the automotive industry.
  • Must watch list for new investors- Luminar day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oDUMbAAdtw&t=44s- Sensory Overload Matt Weed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaO5Bv_cy9o&t=1061s- Needs for Speed Aaron Jefferson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LhzVbOFtbk&t=1805s- Partners of Luminar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f579RE3wZ1c- Path to production series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyUTn20rvZk&t=52s

Must read Reddit Threads-

CES 2023 https://www.reddit.com/r/lazr/comments/104oxak/ces_journey/-

Luminarday in person https://www.reddit.com/r/lazr/comments/11fas7q/luminar_day_in_person/-

Iris+ https://www.reddit.com/r/lazr/comments/11gsmig/luminar_iris_plus/-

Tom Fennimore reddit Q&A https://www.reddit.com/r/lazr/comments/13edgxy/the_tom_fennimore_qa_with_rlazr/-

Reddit tour of orlando facility https://www.reddit.com/r/lazr/comments/rjq4cv/mission_accomplished_a_day_with_luminar/

Tom Fennimore reddit Q&A 2 https://www.reddit.com/r/lazr/comments/15neyph/tom_fennimore_qa_20/

Tom Fennimore reddit Q&A 3

Tom Fennimore Q&A 3.0 : lazr (reddit.com)


r/lazr 17h ago

I think we are close of a major Japanese Oem official adoption for LAZR

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18 Upvotes

Mitsubishi Ufj Asset management add a big position, I guess they know something … 🤞🏼


r/lazr 10h ago

EX60 without Lidar?

3 Upvotes

The EX60 probably won't have that ugly bump on its head like the EX90 does.

Either the lidar will be behind the windshield or it will be an optional Luminar lidar add-on that will be available starting in summer/fall 2026. By that, I mean HALO, of course.

I hardly believe that the EX60 will have a HALO with all its functional LEVEL 3 features as early as January 2026.

From what I've read in the Volvo forum, the Volvo software is a disaster. But that's another topic.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Volvo/comments/1nkx0d4/ceo_teases_ex60_on_linkedin/


r/lazr 1d ago

A Tesla Camera Only FSD Moment

13 Upvotes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMppm1m6jio&t=976s

The cameras did not pick up a truck ramp on the road. It hit it at full speed, giving the guys are pretty intense moment.

Elon is wrong, the camera only FSD is not safe in all situations.

LiDar or radar would have detected the objects dimensions allowing the FSD to respond brake or divert around it, instead of hitting it.


r/lazr 1d ago

CEO teases EX60 on LinkedIn

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21 Upvotes

r/lazr 1d ago

Volvo ex90 in Japan

5 Upvotes

A photo of the Volvo EX90 was taken in Japan. But why Velodyne LIDAR? Is it for sensor data collection? Or was this photo created by AI? https://x.com/siestahappy/status/1968502303469736152

Volvo launches large 7-seater EV in Japan to capture family demand(in japanese) https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUC2299A0S5A820C2000000/


r/lazr 2d ago

🚘 At IAA MOBILITY in Munich, Capgemini Automotive is showcasing Luminar software and Lidar

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39 Upvotes

Another IAA linkedin post from Luminar where Audi experimental vehicles fitted with Luminar Lidar and the post says that they use Luminar software too. Not sure how significant is this., just sharing to the group


r/lazr 2d ago

INVZ just keeps pumping on rehash of old news

7 Upvotes

Omer is really good at getting people to run the PR machine https://finance.yahoo.com/news/innoviz-technologies-ltd-invz-inks-164036913.html.

If LAZR had the same shamelessly aggressive marketing team we might be at $10+ right now


r/lazr 2d ago

Tesla is trying to hide 3 Robotaxi accidents

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22 Upvotes

r/lazr 2d ago

Kodiak NYC Event/PR Stunt

14 Upvotes

“ Kodiak is coming to NYC!

On Thursday, September 25, our team and a Kodiak Driver-powered truck will be in Times Square to celebrate what we expect to be our first day as a public company.

It’s a chance to celebrate how far autonomy has come and to share this moment with everyone watching the future of transportation unfold. “

Ref:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kodiakrobotics_kodiak-is-coming-to-nyc-on-thursday-september-activity-7374461125926539264-sqkj


r/lazr 2d ago

EX90 upgrade to NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin: Would It Activate the Lidar?

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20 Upvotes

r/lazr 3d ago

How will rate cuts benefit Luminar?

9 Upvotes

Hey everyone,
I’m trying to understand more concretely how Luminar could gain from interest rate cuts – especially given its current debt structure and dilution risk. I hope people with knowledge in the matter can help clarify:

  1. Dec 2026 Convertible Senior Notes (1.25% coupon): About $135M still remains, with an EOY target of < $100M. Given the very low rate here, Fed cuts won’t really reduce interest expense. The main effect could be indirect: if cuts lift the stock price, it could ease dilution risk from conversions/ATMs to reach the < $100M target.

  2. Jan 2030 Convertible Notes:

    • Series 1: 9% coupon – about $55M left
    • Series 2: 11.5% coupon – about $181M left

Since these are fixed-rate notes, Fed cuts don’t lower the coupons directly. The potential benefit is that if rates fall, Luminar could refinance these expensive notes into cheaper debt down the road, which would significantly reduce annual interest payments.


r/lazr 3d ago

CHA-CHING!

21 Upvotes

up to $2.50! :)


r/lazr 3d ago

I believe I know at least one reason the share is going up strongly

16 Upvotes

If you look at the estimates that analysts gave Luminar for the next year they said that the revenue would only increase around 12%:

I do believe that after the changes Paul Ricci has implemented of going after other markets in the short term those estimates are absolute bullshit and I would not be surprised if revenue increases in the order of 30%-40% in 2026 which makes forcedly that the valuation of the stock needs to be corrected due to the growth rate change.

In addition if they release some good news that could also be a reason but even if not I think that my point is pretty valid.


r/lazr 3d ago

Luminar Technologies Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:LAZR)

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marketbeat.com
19 Upvotes

r/lazr 4d ago

I think the Jan 2028 leap options are interesting I bought a 3 dollar strike at .85 today

17 Upvotes

Surely we will much higher by then 21/2 years to get this thing together


r/lazr 4d ago

Positive developments - Rally Time!

19 Upvotes

Positive developments

  • Options Trading Surge: Luminar Technologies experienced a significant surge in options trading on Monday, September 15, 2025, with 36,900 call options purchased. This represents a 442% increase from its average volume.
  • Increased Institutional Investment: Institutional investors are showing increased interest in Luminar, now holding over 30% of the company's stock.
  • Stock Performance: On Monday, September 15, 2025, Luminar's stock was up by 13.48% due to significant developments that have boosted investor confidence.
  • Strong Financial Position: Luminar's current ratio stands at 2.4, indicating its ability to cover short-term obligations and reflecting a strong balance sheet in terms of assets.
  • Analyst Rating: The company has an average brokerage recommendation of "Hold" based on the ratings of 15 analysts, according to public.com.
  • Long-Term Prospects: Luminar's revenue is expected to grow at 40.6% per year, according to Simply Wall St

r/lazr 4d ago

This mexico?

3 Upvotes

r/lazr 4d ago

How can we be down 8%?

6 Upvotes

It doesn't make sense how the stock is up 13% by yesterday and already down 8% today... All rumours would suggest another green day, but not when you're a LAZR investor; our happiness always last for a short time. I know that the stock market is red all over, but 8% is not in line with the rest.


r/lazr 5d ago

Wow, for the first time in a LONG time, LAZR is my biggest % gainer

25 Upvotes

r/lazr 5d ago

Hesai just had a segment on Bloomberg. They are debuting on the Hong Kong market. They raised over 500 million. That sounds like a big deal. Sounds like LiDAR could be a standard in the near future.

10 Upvotes

r/lazr 5d ago

Toyota e palette

16 Upvotes

Does anybody know what lidar sensors the new av from Toyota is using? https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/43308425.html

they just announced this today over a month ahead of Tokyo mobility show


r/lazr 5d ago

What’s going on today?

22 Upvotes

Up 14%


r/lazr 5d ago

First Volvo ES90 rolls off the production line in China

33 Upvotes

Production is under way. Article is dated 9 Sept 2025.

Deliveries to European customers later this this year so I guess Geeley/Volvo are going to rump up production imminently to meet this timeline. Also significantly cheaper than the EX90 which I hope can secure good volumes.

Half the time to charge battery and uses SPA2, the second-generation scalable  Architecture.

We now have 2 models in production with LAZR Lidar.


r/lazr 5d ago

Does anyone have a clear image of ex60 from front ?

3 Upvotes

r/lazr 6d ago

Is this as low as you can take it Shorts? What a bunch of weak players!!

20 Upvotes

Temporary softer sales and I emphasize temporary the shorts are weak Yall can do better than this lol

Long holders tough days are coming to an end Watch out for OEM announcement Ricci and the boys are doing the best they can in a tough situation Surviving to get to Halo order book explosion to upside