Mercedes-Benz has recently made a massive investment in Luminar, a leading manufacturer of lidar technology and software. The “multibillion-dollar” deal between the two companies is set to revolutionize the future of automated driving in the German automaker’s next-generation vehicles, which are expected to roll out by the middle of the decade. The announcement was made at the Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America facility in Sunnyvale, California.
This deal marks an expansion of the existing partnership between Mercedes-Benz and Luminar. Luminar plans to build a factory in Asia to support the deal, which will supply almost entirely dedicated lidar sensors to Mercedes. The lidar technology is a necessary sensor used alongside cameras and radar to support automated driving features. Lidar uses laser light to create a 3D map of the environment around the vehicle, providing data about distance, speed, and direction.
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The Luminar lidar and accompanying software will be integrated into a broad range of Mercedes’ next-generation production vehicles. The technology will be equipped in Mercedes vehicles with its Drive Pilot system, which allows for hands-free, eyes-off driving under certain conditions on highways. Mercedes announced in January 2022 that it would use Luminar’s lidar technology in future vehicles as part of a broader deal that includes data sharing and the automaker taking a small stake in the company. As part of the deal, Mercedes-Benz acquired up to 1.5 million Luminar shares, in exchange for certain data and services.
This newly expanded partnership will still include the data-sharing component and grow to multiple vehicle models. Luminar’s next-generation Iris lidar, designed to meet Mercedes-Benz needs for its automated driving system, will go into production by mid-decade. Mercedes said the lidar will not only support its conditional automated driving system Drive Pilot, it will allow the system to operate at speeds up to 80 miles per hour. Today, Drive Pilot allows for hands-free, eyes-off driving up to 40 mph on certain highways.
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Mercedes CTO Markus Schäfer said in a statement that “in a first step, we have introduced a Level 3 system in our top-line models. Next, we want to implement advanced automated driving features on a broader scale within our portfolio.” The lidar technology will play a crucial role in this implementation, enabling Mercedes-Benz to take another step towards achieving its goal of creating a safer, more efficient, and sustainable future of driving.
