This episode is sponsored by Gentex Corporation.

Gentex is a long time supplier of electro-optical products for the global automotive,

aerospace and fire protection industries.

Visit W.W. Gentex.com to check out the latest in digital vision, connected car, and dimmable glass technologies.

Hi everybody,

welcome to shift, a podcast about mobility.

I'm Pete Bigelow, your host and reporter at the Automotive News.

We're departing from our usual format for today's episode. Instead of headlines

followed by our normal interview, we have two separate interviews on topics that

are really in the news right now. So we wanted to bring you both of these conversations

as quickly as possible. First up, I'm joined by Austin Russell, the CEO of LIDAR company

LUMINAR. It's no secret that the LIDAR industry writ large has encountered some big headwinds this year and Austin is going to

candidly discuss exactly what it takes to commercialize a really really high-tech

technology. My colleague Hannah Lutz will bring you her conversation with Jeff Allen.

He's the executive director of the fourth Electric Transportation Conference,

which will be held in Detroit this week for the first time after a decade of being held in the

Pacific Northwest. Speaking of conferences of course I would be remiss if I didn't

give a quick shout out and plug to our own Automotive News Congress events being held Tuesday in Pontiac.

Among other highlights, I'll be moderating a panel on the evolution of software defined vehicles. If you're interested in coming to

check it out, I encourage you to visit auto news.com for more information.

Okay, that is enough of the preamble. I'm pleased to bring in this conversation with

Lumenar founder and CEO Austin Russell.

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