Luminar Technologies Inc. founder and CEO Austin Russell recommends attendees to this year’s massive Consumer Electronics Show do something he hasn’t been able to do in years: take a day to check out the 2,000-plus exhibiting tech firms.
Orlando-based Luminar (Nasdaq: LAZR) also is an exhibitor at CES 2023, but the 200-plus meetings Russell and the company have organized at the show and slew of announcements they will make leave Russell with little time to walk the convention floor, he told Orlando Inno. "It's a pretty intense blitz to make it all happen.”
Luminar is one of six Central Florida firms exhibiting at CES 2023 in Las Vegas and showing off their latest tech and advancements. A booth at CES is a big deal, since the tech-focused expo consistently ranks as one of the biggest annual U.S. trade shows, and organizer Consumer Technology Association projected up to 100,000 in-person attendees at this year’s show.
At CES 2023, Luminar — a frequent exhibitor at recent CES shows — displayed a few significant advancements for the maker of lidar sensors that enable autonomous driving:
- SAIC, the biggest automaker in China, at CES displays its Rising Auto R7 car for the first time in North America. The Rising Auto R7, the first vehicle equipped with Luminar technology, began production in China in October.
- Volvo’s new electric SUV, the EX90, is on display at one of Luminar’s booths. Luminar tech is standard in every vehicle, enabling driver assist features like speed control around curves, steering support during lane changes and automatic braking if a driver is unresponsive.
- Luminar demonstrates 3D mapping software made possible by its 2022 purchase of California firm Civil Maps.
Luminar’s showcase at CES 2023 is evidence of the arrival of the point when the company’s technology will be deployed in the real world, and the company aims to have a million Luminar-enabled vehicles on the road by the second half of the decade, Russell said. “The key takeaway is the vision around the opportunity for the next technology revolution around consumer vehicles, not just robotaxis.”
Here’s a look at the other local firms exhibiting at the show, which runs Jan. 5-8:
- Enterprise Florida Inc. (Booth 9063): Not a tech company, Enterprise Florida is a public/private organization headquartered in Orlando meant to facilitate job creation in Florida and diversify the state’s economy. Enterprise Florida is at CES promoting the Sunshine State as a growing tech hub.
- Kalogon Inc. (Booth 60513): The Melbourne-based startup makes a high-tech wheelchair cushion that senses pressure points and redistributes weight to increase blood flow and improve comfort. Kalogon, which in 2022 raised more than $3 million in investment capital and federal grants, offers CES attendees opportunities to check out its Orbiter Smart Cushion at its booth.
- Red 6 Inc. (Booth 15889): Based in Orlando, Red 6 is the developer of an augmented-reality (AR) training device that lets fighter jet pilots train with computer-generated enemy planes around them — even in high-speed, outdoor environments. Fresh off an appearance at Orlando simulation show I/ITSEC in December, Red 6 in Las Vegas is showing off the technology that it’s integrating with the U.S. Air Force.
- The Disti Corp (Booth 4366): Part of Central Florida’s $6 billion modeling, simulation and training industry, Orlando-based Dist Corp. offers a popular virtual maintenance training platform for cars, tanks, helicopters and more. At CES, Disti is displaying the latest advancements in training for the automotive sector and industries where safety is a top concern.
- Zero-G Corp. (Booth 10143): Appropriately headquartered at Exploration Park on the Space Coast, Zero-G offers customers the chance to experience the sensation of weightlessness through flights on a modified Boeing 727. The company is making itself known to the tens of thousands of CES attendees before it takes its Zero-G Experience on a tour across the U.S. in 2023.
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