The 25-Year-Old Billionaire Building The Future of Self-Driving Cars
By: , The Verge
Photo by: CNBC
Austin Russell is the 25-year-old founder and CEO of Luminar, a startup in Silicon Valley that makes LIDAR sensors for self-driving cars. LIDAR technology had been used for short-distance mapping, but Luminar claims to have a functioning LIDAR that works at 250 meters, which is a breakthrough. Luminar recently went public, making Austin today’s youngest self-made billionaire.
And when it comes to self-driving cars, youth is definitely an advantage — Austin told me we’re still years if not decades away from fully self-driving cars, and there’s a lot of work to be done to make them safe, effective, and ubiquitous. That work is racing ahead — Luminar has deals with Volvo, Audi, Toyota, and others — but building a complete self-driving car is still a long-term project.
Here we go.
Read the full interview on The Verge.
