Mercedes-Benz is strengthening its partnership with Luminar and will implement the company’s advanced Iris LiDAR into a host of vehicles by the middle of the decade.
Luminar says it next-generation Iris system has been designed to meet the requirements of Mercedes-Benz “for a new conditionally automated driving system that is planned to operate at higher speeds for freeways.” The new system will also enhance current driver assistance systems for urban environments.
“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,” Luminar founder and chief executive Austin Russell said. “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.”
Read: Mercedes-Benz Purchases Small Stake In LiDAR Company Luminar
While financial details of the partnership haven’t been announced, Luminar refers to it as a “multi-billion dollar deal” and that it will significantly boost the technical capabilities and safety of conditionally automated driving systems.
“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 in a broader scale within our portfolio,” added member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG and chief technology officer for Development & Procurement, Markus Schäfer.
While it is unclear which Mercedes-Benz models will be the first to receive Luminar’s LiDAR, Russell told Auto News that “it’s a larger contract than probably everything else in the industry combined at this point.”
Carmakers including Volvo, Polestar and SAIC already use Luminar’s current version of Iris. Every new Nissan model by 2030 is also set to receive LiDAR from Luminar.
