"According to an SEC filing (and first reported by TechCrunch), Russell wants to acquire "100% of the outstanding shares of the Class A Common Stock" in Luminar under the auspices of his new company, Russell AI Labs. The new company would still be publicly listed (Luminar went public through a reverse SPAC merger in 2020) and traded under the same "LAZR" ticker symbol."
"After launching in 2017, Luminar muscled its way to the front of the autonomous vehicle industry as a top maker of lidar systems, a key technology that driverless 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"
Austin Russell resigned earlier this year after it was revealed he was the target of an ethics inquiry. Russell is attempting to reacquire 100% of Luminar's Class A common stock through his new company, Russell AI Labs, which would remain publicly listed and trade under the LAZR ticker. Russell says certain shareholders and some board members invited the acquisition. Luminar has not disclosed reasons for his departure or whether the ethics inquiry produced findings. Luminar became a leading maker of lidar sensors since 2017 and sold to multiple automakers, but has faced financial difficulties, layoffs, and a near-NASDAQ delisting. Russell founded Russell AI Labs with Markus Schaefer and Murtaza Ahmed.
Read at The Verge
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