Luminar (LAZR) – Get Luminar Technologies Report stock soared on Tuesday, surging more than 55% in premarket trading, after the laser lidar startup said it will supply its sensors to Nvidia (NVDA) – Get NVIDIA Corporation Report for a new autonomous vehicle technology platform that automakers will install in consumer cars and trucks.
Luminar stock was up 50.29% at $26.30 in premarket trading at last check following the announcement, which will see the company supply its long-range Iris lidar technology to Nvidia for its DRIVE Hyperion “systems on a chip” hardware that will be installed in cars and trucks.
DRIVE Hyperion will utilize one forward-facing long-range Luminar Iris lidar in its Level 3 highway driving configuration, the companies said in a statement.
The platform, which also integrates cameras and radar for additional sensing capabilities, includes everything needed for mass-production vehicles to operate autonomously in highway driving, according to Nvidia.
“NVIDIA has led the modern compute revolution, and the industry sees them as doing the same with autonomous driving,” Luminar CEO Austin Russell said.
“The common thread between our two companies is that our technologies are becoming the de facto solution for major automakers to enable next-generation safety and autonomy.”
Retail giant Walmart (WMT) – Get Walmart Inc. Report on Monday said it has teamed with robotic-technology startup Gatik on a pair of autonomous delivery trucks, which for the first time have begun making deliveries without human backup.
Walmart is testing the vehicles as part of its transition to a so-called hub-and-spoke model for grocery delivery, where facilities are located near customers and serve several retail stores.
Gatik has been making deliveries for Walmart since 2019 in the big box retailer’s hometown of Bentonville, Ark. Walmart said the automated vehicles will enable store associates the freedom to do “higher level” tasks.
