Austin Russell is an engineer, business leader, and selfdriving industry pioneer as the founder and CEO of Luminar, the global leader in automotive lidar hardware and software technology. Under Russell’s leadership, Luminar has developed the first lidar and software technology capable of powering production autonomous vehicles, has amassed over 50 commercial partners including the majority of the world’s largest automakers, and went public on the Nasdaq in December 2020 with a current market valuation of approximately $7 billion.

Russell started Luminar in 2012 at age 17 after previously working on various photonics and optoelectronics projects, architecting a new kind of lidar to enable safe autonomous functionality on cars, trucks, and robotaxis with over 70 awarded patents. At age 25, Russell was recognized as the world’s youngest selfmade billionaire. He also received a Thiel Fellowship and was named among the MIT Tech Review Innovators Under 35 and Forbes 30 under 30.

This appearance by Austin Russell is part of the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series. Join us virtually as we bring founders, investors and industry influencers to center stage and invite them to share what it takes to become a disruptor.



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