Lidar maker Luminar lays off more workers following CEO exit

Luminar, a company that develops lidar systems for autonomous vehicles, started laying off workers just one day after its founder and CEO, Austin Russell, abruptly resigned. In a regulatory filing spotted by TechCrunch, the company said it began carrying out restructuring efforts on May 15th, which include a “reduction in its workforce.”

Last year, Luminar announced plans to cut 20 percent of its employees as it began outsourcing more of its production. Luminar later revealed in September that it had laid off around 30 percent of workers since the beginning of 2024, affecting 212 employees, according to TechCrunch.

After launching in 2017, Luminar was pushed to the forefront of the autonomous vehicle industry as a top maker of lidar systems, a key technology that cars use to sense the shapes and distances of objects around them. Luminar has sold sensors to Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Audi, Toyota Research Institute, Caterpillar, and even Tesla, which has dismissed LIDAR sensors in favor of traditional cameras.

Luminar has encountered financial difficulties in recent months and was nearly delisted from the NASDAQ.

The company doesn’t say how many employees are affected by this most recent round of layoffs, but it expects to spend around $4 million to $5 million on its restructuring plans. Luminar appointed Paul Ricci as CEO after Russell stepped down last week, but Russell will remain on Luminar’s board.