Luminar's deal with Swiss Re links lidar to car insurance rates

Lidar maker Luminar Technologies used its first investor day as an opportunity to position itself as more than a company supplying autonomous driving technology to clients such as Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Polestar and Daimler Truck Group.

At its Orlando, Fla., headquarters last week, Luminar executives explained their rebranded semiconductor business; unveiled a new line of automotive sensors, strategic acquisitions, and partnerships; and announced the company's entry into insurance, a business not typically associated with automotive technology companies.

They said Luminar will book at least $1 billion in new business in 2023.

Among many endeavors, Luminar is partnering with Swiss Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, to launch an insurance program.

Company executives believe Luminar's exclusive partnership with Swiss Re will accelerate the widespread adoption and standardization of the company's lidar products. Luminar wants to quantify the on-road safety improvements of vehicles equipped with its lidar and how that affects vehicle insurance rates.

Luminar is also combining its three chip design subsidiaries and rebranding them as a single entity: Luminar Semiconductor.

Luminar Semiconductor will be headed by Mike McAuliffe, the former CEO of Australia's Seeing Machines, an automotive semiconductor technology company.

Bringing laser and processing chip technologies in-house is a part of Luminar's strategy. The company wants to leverage the sensors it develops for lidar for other industries. Luminar has customers for its sensors in the medical, communications and aerospace industries.

Luminar also unveiled its new slim Iris+ sensor. This lidar can better detect small objects at up to "autobahn-level speeds," the company said.

Iris+ has a 300-meter range and will be in all new Mercedes-Benz models beginning in 2025, Luminar CEO Austin Russell said. Luminar plans to open a new manufacturing facility in Asia with a local partner to handle the increased production of lidars, Russell added.

Luminar also announced its acquisition of data storage company Seagate's lidar division.

Seagate's lidar business will allow Luminar to introduce a next-generation sensor that's currently under development, Russell said.

Luminar's new high-volume manufacturing facility in Monterey, Mexico, is expected to open in the second quarter of 2023. The factory, which is being built with its manufacturing partner Celestica, will complete a "rigorous validation process" throughout 2023 to meet automakers' standards and requirements for large-scale production of lidars.

Luminar is also partnering with two artificial intelligence companies.

Luminar's AI Engine was developed in an exclusive partnership with Scale.ai, a San Francisco-based company backed by Toyota and counts GM and Honda as clients. Luminar's AI Engine will capture 3D lidar data. Scale.ai's technology powering Luminar's AI Engine will no longer be licensed to other lidar companies.

Luminar will partner with Fremont, Calif., robotaxi platform company Pony.ai on its next-generation commercial trucking and robotaxi platforms, which are expected to come online by 2025. Pony.ai will also help with improving the performance and accuracy of Luminar's AI engine.

Financial questions

But losses continue to grow even as Luminar’s executives talked about their the company’s initiatives
Citing capital investments and ongoing software development, Luminar posted a fourth-quarter loss of $144.8 million, up 49 percent from $73.9 million in the same period a year earlier.

Luminar's revenue in the fourth quarter of 2022 was $11.1 million, an 11 percent decrease, compared to $12.3 million the company brought in the fourth quarter of 2021.   

For the year, Luminar lost $ 445.9 million, up 47 percent from $238 million. Revenue grew 21 percent to $40.7 million in 2022 from $32 million in 2021.