Luminar to Enable Enhanced Safety and Autonomy on Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars

Luminar’s Iris lidar technology planned to be integrated into production vehicle platform

Luminar (Nasdaq: LAZR), a leading global automotive technology company, announced today a partnership with Mercedes-Benz to accelerate the development of future highly automated driving technologies for Mercedes passenger cars.

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Austin Russell, Luminar Founder and CEO with Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, Chief Technology Officer responsible for Development and Procurement at Mercedes-Benz' Sindelfingen, Germany plant. (Photo: Business Wire)

Luminar’s Iris lidar technology, which is currently being prepared for series production, is expected to improve vehicle safety and the technical capabilities of highly automated driving systems. The partnership represents a major commercial win for Luminar, and the company is leveraging its foundational technology as it continues to execute towards series production.

“This partnership is a landmark moment in the industry, demonstrating how substantially increased safety and autonomous driving functions on consumer vehicles are going from sci-fi to mainstream,” said Austin Russell, Founder and CEO. “Mercedes-Benz has always been a technological leader and first mover for the industry, with the brand synonymous with automotive innovation, safety, luxury, and quality.”

“Luminar is the perfect addition to our existing roster of first-class cooperations with leading and cutting–edge tech companies. Mercedes-Benz’s achievement of SAE Level 3 already marked a huge milestone for automated driving and I am absolutely convinced that partnerships will increase our level of ambition for what is possible in the future. Cooperation is an essential part of Mercedes-Benz’s strategy. Therefore, I am highly delighted to have Austin Russell and Luminar on board for our journey,” says Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, Chief Technology Officer responsible for Development and Procurement.

About Luminar Technologies

Luminar is a global automotive technology company ushering in a new era of vehicle safety and autonomy. For the past decade, Luminar has built an advanced hardware and software platform to enable its more than 50 industry partners, including the majority of global automotive OEMs. From Volvo Cars for consumer vehicles and Daimler Truck AG for commercial trucks, to tech partners NVIDIA and Intel’s Mobileye, Luminar is the first automotive technology company to enable next-generation safety and autonomous capabilities for production vehicles. For more information please visit www.luminartech.com.

Mercedes-Benz AG at a glance

Mercedes-Benz AG is responsible for the global business of Mercedes-Benz Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans, with over 170,000 employees worldwide. Ola Källenius is Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz AG. The company focuses on the development, production and sales of passenger cars, vans and vehicle-related services. Furthermore, the company aspires to be the leader in the fields of electric mobility and vehicle software. The product portfolio comprises the Mercedes-Benz brand with the brands of Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, Mercedes-EQ, G-Class and the smart brand. The Mercedes me brand offers access to the digital services from Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz AG is one of the world's largest manufacturers of luxury passenger cars. In 2020 it sold around 2.1 million passenger cars and nearly 375,000 vans. In its two business segments, Mercedes-Benz AG is continually expanding its worldwide production network with around 35 production sites on four continents, while gearing itself to meet the requirements of electric mobility. At the same time, the company is constructing and extending its global battery production network on three continents. As sustainability is the guiding principle of the Mercedes-Benz strategy and for the company itself, this means creating lasting value for all stakeholders: for customers, employees, investors, business partners and society as a whole. The basis for this is Daimler's sustainable business strategy. The company thus takes responsibility for the economic, ecological and social effects of its business activities and looks at the entire value chain.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “aims”, “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “set,” “continue,” “towards,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “forward,” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our expectations that our strategic collaboration agreement with lead to series production on Mercedes-Benz vehicles and that Mercedes-Benz will launch and SAE Level 3 and higher automated driving system on consumer vehicles. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current expectations of Luminar’s management and are not predictions of actual performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to fluctuations in our stock price, the fluctuations in the trading volume of our stock, the nature of other investments or strategic opportunities presented to us from time to time, our cash flows from operations; changes in market conditions; or other risks, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements including the risks discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed by Luminar on April 14, 2021, and other documents Luminar files with the SEC in the future. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made and Luminar undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release.

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