Luminar's CFO Aims to Conserve Cash as Company Begins Commercial Production

The transaction provided Luminar with the infusion of capital it needed to begin producing lidar sensors that use lasers to measure distances and classify objects for self-driving vehicles at a commercial scale, according to Chief Financial Officer Tom Fennimore. As a public company, however, Luminar must be mindful of how it spends the cash, he added. Luminar has positioned itself in recent years to benefit from the expected rise of autonomous vehicles. It has announced partnerships with car makers including Volvo Cars, which is owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, Daimler AG's trucks business and SAIC Motor Corp. Ltd. to incorporate its sensor technology into self-driving vehicle designs. The Morning Ledger provides daily news and insights on corporate finance from the CFO Journal team.