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In early 2023, Luminar was riding high. After going public during the pandemic and scoring a key deal with Volvo, the company had added Mercedes-Benz and Polestar as customers of its \u201clifesaving<\/a>\u201d lidar sensors. Founder and CEO Austin Russell called it<\/a> an \u201cinflection point,\u201d as Luminar prepped to have those sensors integrated into the first production vehicles.<\/p>\n Volvo in particular was all in on the technology. The Swedish automaker, which spent decades building a brand around the idea of making the safest cars, was the first to jump at integrating the laser-based sensors in its vehicles. Volvo initially tapped Luminar to provide 39,500 lidar sensors over the life of a deal signed in 2020. In 2021, Volvo upped that to 673,000. And in 2022, Volvo upped it again, this time to 1.1 million sensors.<\/p>\n Three years later, Luminar is now in bankruptcy<\/a>. The company has already made a deal<\/a> to sell off one subsidiary centered around semiconductors and is looking to sell its lidar business during the Chapter 11 process, which began on Monday.<\/p>\n The first batch of filings in the bankruptcy case shed new light on how Luminar\u2019s cornerstone deal with Volvo came apart \u2014 and how its undoing helped push the once-promising startup over the edge.<\/p>\n Luminar made \u201csubstantial up-front investments in equipment, facilities, and workforce\u201d to meet the demand from Volvo back in 2022, according to a declaration<\/a> written by Luminar\u2019s newly hired chief restructuring officer Robin Chiu. It built out a manufacturing facility in Monterrey, Mexico<\/a>, and spent nearly $200 million to prepare to make its Iris lidar sensors for Volvo\u2019s EX90 SUV.<\/p>\n \u201cVolvo was going to be a marquee customer, the stepping stone to introducing the company\u2019s Iris product to the broader automotive industry,\u201d one of Luminar\u2019s lawyers said during the first hearing in the bankruptcy case on Tuesday.<\/p>\n But, according to Chiu, problems were already brewing with Volvo. The automaker delayed the EX90 SUV because it needed to do more \u201csoftware testing and development,\u201d the automaker said in 2023<\/a>. And in early 2024, Luminar says Volvo reduced its expected volume for Iris sensors by 75%.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> Luminar\u2019s other deals started to sour, too. Polestar (a subsidiary of Volvo) quietly gave up on integrating Luminar\u2019s lidar sensors \u201cbecause the vehicle\u2019s software ultimately could not use\u201d the features, according to Chiu. Mercedes-Benz terminated its agreement to buy Luminar\u2019s Iris sensors in November 2024 because the lidar-maker \u201cfailed to meet ambitious requirements,\u201d according to Chiu. <\/p>\n (Mercedes-Benz struck up a new deal with Luminar in March 2025 for its next-generation Halo lidar, but Chiu wrote that Luminar has \u201cno go-forward projects\u201d with the German automaker at the time of bankruptcy.)<\/p>\n This left Luminar with Volvo as its lone flagship customer. <\/p>\n The company never diversified much beyond the automotive industry, shunning other applications like defense or robotics. In fact, Russell had founded Luminar in 2012 with the goal of taking lidar out of those sectors and into automotive to help accelerate the adoption of autonomous vehicles.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until March of this year that Russell talked about expanding beyond automotive, as Luminar signed a deal with construction equipment company Caterpillar<\/a>. Just two months later, Russell abruptly resigned<\/a> following an ethics inquiry from Luminar\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n By Chiu\u2019s account, Volvo kept promising that it would meet the lifetime order of 1.1 million units despite the reduced volume in 2024. So Luminar kept pressing forward under that assumption. <\/p>\n But signs of stress were showing. Luminar laid off 20% of its workforce in May 2024 and outsourced more of its lidar sensor manufacturing. It deepened those cuts<\/a> and restructured some of its business in September 2024. Another round of layoffs came in May 2025 after Russell resigned<\/a>.<\/p>\n In September, \u201cVolvo delivered more bad news,\u201d Chiu wrote. The automaker decided to offer lidar as an option on the EX90 going forward, instead of making it a standard feature as originally planned. Volvo also told Luminar that it was shelving lidar on future vehicles \u201cas a cost-cutting measure.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis change reduced Volvo\u2019s estimated lifetime volumes by approximately 90%,\u201d Chiu wrote. <\/p>\n Luminar told Volvo on October 3 that it considered this a breach of the agreement the companies had first signed in 2020. On October 31, the dispute became public, as Luminar told shareholders in a regulatory filing that it was suspending sensor shipments to Volvo. The Swedish automaker sent Luminar a letter two weeks later, terminating the agreement.<\/p>\n Volvo told TechCrunch in a statement Tuesday that it \u201cmade this decision to limit the company\u2019s supply chain risk\u00a0exposure\u00a0and it is a direct result of Luminar\u2019s failure to meet its contractual obligations to Volvo Cars.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe company\u2019s products can deliver a high level of safety and driver support, enabled by the cars\u2019 powerful core computing coupled with their advanced sensor set \u2013 with or without a lidar,\u201d a Volvo spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Luminar, meanwhile, started selling lidar sensors meant for Volvo \u201cto adjacent markets in an effort to recover its sunk costs,\u201d according to Chiu\u2019s filing, but it was too little too late.<\/p>\n \u201cAs its relationship with Volvo deteriorated, [Luminar] worked tirelessly to identify new customers, but was ultimately unable to enter into production with any new customers in a timely fashion,\u201d Chiu wrote. \u201cThe public Volvo dispute also resulted in a decline in sales due to broader market concerns over Luminar\u2019s financial future.\u201d <\/p>\n Now the future of what\u2019s left of Luminar is in the hands of its creditors and the court. It\u2019s seeking the judge\u2019s approval to sell the semiconductor subsidiary to Quantum Computing, Inc. for $110 million<\/a>, and hopes to court a number of bidders for the lidar business.<\/p>\n Luminar has already had significant interest in the lidar business, according to the filing. In January, Chiu wrote, the company hired investment bank Jefferies to evaluate a sale after receiving an \u201cunsolicited acquisition proposal.\u201d Luminar received \u201cadditional unsolicited inbound expressions of interest to acquire the Company\u201d through the summer and fall \u2014 including one submitted by Russell through his new AI lab in October.<\/p>\n As TechCrunch reported Monday, Russell plans to keep bidding<\/a> on Luminar\u2019s remains as the bankruptcy case moves forward. During Tuesday\u2019s hearing, a lawyer for Luminar said it is \u201cdeep into the sale process\u201d and \u201cin negotiations with\u201d several potential bidders.<\/p>\nBig promises, then big revisions<\/h2>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cMore bad news\u201d<\/h2>\n