Luminar prepares for increased Lidar sensor production volumes with new cleanroom facilities
In preparation for ramping up the volumes for producing specialist Lidar sensors for automotive products with advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) or full autonomy, Luminar has built and commissioned a new highly automated, high-volume manufacturing facility in Monterrey, Mexico. The first of the company’s high precision iris sensors have already started shipping from the new facility.
The new dedicated 118,000 square feet factory for high-volume production of Luminar’s sensors will have initial capacity for up to 250,000 sensors per year, expandable to approximately 500,000 sensors per year.
Part of this is taken up by 40,000 square feet of cleanroom space that meets International Organization for Standardization (ISO) specifications. This installation will have the capability of producing high quality sensors that require high levels of cleanliness during the production process. To supplement this, an additional 200,000 square feet extension will enable state-of-the-art testing for performance and quality and will provide the flexibility for future capacity expansion into the millions of sensors per year.
Beginning last year, the construction of the dedicated facility was commissioned at the end of the first quarter this year and is now scheduled to complete a rigorous validation process to meet automotive manufacturers’ standards and requirements for large-scale, global vehicle launches.
The factory forms part of the company’s global manufacturing presence, which includes the United States, Mexico and Thailand, a move that is planned to match the gathering pace of ADAS and autonomous vehicle production requirements in the coming years.
Austin Russell, Founder and CEO of Luminar says, “The commissioning of the Mexico facility enables an increase in capacity by well over an order of magnitude as compared to our existing, manual line to meet our growing capacity requirements.”
Having the component capacity available is crucial to the ADAS and autonomous vehicle programmes of automotive manufacturers as the Lidar sensors form an integral part of the vehicle control systems, enabling an awareness of the vehicle surroundings, the presence of other vehicles, obstacles, vulnerable road users and objects of infrastructure.
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