Luminar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: LAZR) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, marking a dramatic fall for the autonomous vehicle sensor maker that lost more than 90% of its market value over the past year.
The Orlando-based company filed in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas after months of financial distress. Court documents show Luminar reported assets between $100 million and $500 million against liabilities ranging from $500 million to $1 billion.
The bankruptcy filing comes after Volvo cancelled a five-year supply contract in November, removing the Swedish automaker as Luminar’s largest customer. The company has taken legal action against Volvo over the dissolved partnership while facing its own lawsuit from a contract manufacturer.
Luminar reached an agreement to sell its semiconductor subsidiary to Quantum Computing for $110 million in cash, though higher bidders may replace the agreement. The company also plans to auction its core lidar business through a court-supervised sale process that should conclude by late January 2026.
“After a comprehensive review of our alternatives, the board determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best path forward,” said Paul Ricci, Luminar’s chief executive, in a statement.
An ad hoc group representing approximately 91% of first-lien noteholders and 86% of second-lien noteholders consented to Luminar’s use of roughly $25 million in cash collateral to fund operations during bankruptcy proceedings.
The company’s shares plunged more than 60% Monday, closing near their 52-week low. Luminar had reached a valuation exceeding $3 billion when it went public through a reverse merger in 2020.
Founder Austin Russell resigned as CEO in May following an ethics inquiry but remained on the company’s board. Russell launched Russell AI Labs in October and plans to bid for Luminar’s assets during the bankruptcy process, according to a company spokesperson.
Luminar manufactures lidar sensors that use laser technology to help autonomous vehicles detect obstacles. The company’s technology appears as standard equipment on Volvo’s EX90 electric vehicle and the recently unveiled ES90 model.
The bankruptcy filing caps a turbulent year for Luminar, which conducted multiple rounds of layoffs and faced mounting debt pressures amid slower-than-expected adoption of autonomous driving systems across the automotive industry.
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