Luminars LIDAR will take flight in new partnership with Airbus

Luminar, the newly public LIDAR company, is teaming up with the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world to bring its laser-guided mapping and perception technology to new heights.

LIDAR, the laser sensor that sends millions of laser points out per second and measures how long they take to bounce back, is seen as a key ingredient to autonomous driving. But it hasn’t seen as much traction in the world of aviation. Luminar and its new partner, the French aerospace giant Airbus, are out to fix that by applying the laser sensor’s 3D mapping capabilities to the aerospace company’s helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft in the hopes of making flying a lot safer.