Embark Partners with Luminar to Accelerate Commercial SaaS Autonomous Truck Deployment

State-of-the-art lidar sensors will power Embark’s autonomous trucking solution, enabling more advanced, safer self-driving for its commercial trucking partners

Embark Trucks, Inc. developer of autonomous software for the trucking industry, and Luminar Technologies, Inc. (“Luminar”) the global leader in automotive lidar hardware and software technology, announced a novel partnership to equip Embark’s truck fleet with Luminar’s long-range lidar. This partnership gives Embark and its carrier partners access to Luminar’s cutting edge automotive-grade long-range lidar sensors as the company progresses towards commercial deployment and delivery of its 14,200 non-binding truck reservations in 2024.

Embark is pursuing an asset-light go-to-market approach – focusing on delivering the best software for autonomous trucking – and works with partners like Luminar to utilize the best hardware for autonomous trucks. Luminar’s sensor offering stood out from the beginning due to its industry-leading performance, scalability, and automotive-grade capabilities. Data collected from the partnership will improve the Embark Driver’s perception range and perception capabilities, leading to a safer autonomous solution that can be integrated into all four major truck OEMs via the Embark Universal Interface (EUI).

“We’ve spent over three years working with Luminar to leverage best-in-class sensor tech to power the Embark Driver,” said Alex Rodrigues, CEO of Embark. “Today, we’re deepening our partnership with Luminar and ensuring that our fleet partners will have access to a safer, more performant system when we deploy our technology commercially beginning in 2024.”

“Embark has been the longstanding independent leader in autonomous trucking, and we’re excited to help them and their customers on their transition towards commercial deployment with this partnership,” said Austin Russell, Founder and CEO of Luminar. “We continue to see increasing near-term market opportunity for autonomous trucking, and are leveraging our work in the high-volume consumer vehicle space to move full speed ahead into commercial vehicles.”

For a deeper look at Embark’s advanced perception capabilities using Luminar lidar, read Embark’s technical blog post here.

This partnership with Luminar comes as Embark continues to deliver on its commercialization timeline. Since announcing a definitive business combination agreement with Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp. II (NYSE: NGAB) in June that is anticipated to result in Embark becoming a publicly listed company, Embark has added members to Partner Development Program, expanded its transfer point network, refined transfer point operations, worked closely with Tier 1 suppliers on the scaling of the Embark Universal Interface, and secured 14,200 non-binding reservations for its autonomous trucks. Embark anticipates that the shareholder vote on its merger with Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp. II (NYSE: NGAB) (“Northern Genesis 2”) will conclude on November 9, 2021. For more information, visit investors.embarktrucks.com.

About Embark Trucks

​​Embark is an autonomous vehicle company building the software powering autonomous trucks, focused on improving the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of the nearly $700 billion a year trucking market. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA since its founding in 2016, Embark is America’s longest-running self-driving truck program. The company partners with some of the largest shippers and carriers in the nation, collectively representing over 35,000 trucks.

Embark’s mission is to realize a world where consumers pay less for the things they need, drivers stay close to the homes they cherish, and roads are safer for the people we love. To learn more about Embark, visit embarktrucks.com.

Category: General Update