Volvo has been one of the industry’s stalwart supporters of lidar for autonomous driving, even while the sensors in some of its models were frying smartphone cameras. However, the automaker has been at odds with its supplier of the technology, Luminar, for some time, which led it to recently make lidar optional on its ES90 and EX90 models—vehicles that previously featured it as standard equipment. Today, we’ve learned they won’t be featuring it as any equipment, as Volvo confirmed to The Drive that lidar will be gone entirely from its range starting with the 2026 model year.
“Volvo Cars has decided to remove the lidar sensor from its EX90 and ES90 cars and discontinue its relationship with supplier Luminar,” a Volvo Cars USA spokesperson wrote in a statement Tuesday. “Volvo Cars has made this decision to limit the company’s supply chain risk exposure and it is a direct result of Luminar’s failure to meet its contractual obligations to Volvo Cars.
“To meet customer demand, be able to offer the Volvo EX90 and the ES90 cars to more customers as well as limit the company’s supply chain risk exposure, Volvo Cars had previously made the decision to make lidar optional on these vehicles starting 2026. The termination of the agreement with Luminar means lidar will no longer be offered on any EX90 or ES90 car from Model Year 2026 onwards.”
That leaves it in no uncertain terms that Volvo has terminated its relationship with Luminar due to the supplier’s alleged failure to uphold its commitments to the automaker. Given Luminar’s recent reported struggles of hemorrhaging cash, significantly cutting its workforce, and a major executive shakeup that also involves a prior ethics investigation from the company’s board of directors, it’s not particularly surprising that Volvo has lost confidence in the Orlando-based firm.
All this has left Luminar in an even more dangerous position. On Monday, it stated in an SEC filing regarding the end of the contract that “there can be no guarantee that any claim or litigation against Volvo will be successful or that the Company will be able to recover damages from Volvo.”
As for how this will affect Volvo going forward, the automaker has not indicated that it will replace or is looking to replace Luminar’s contribution with lidar components from another supplier, so this very well could be the end of the road for the technology in its vehicles.
“The company’s products can deliver a high level of safety and driver support, enabled by the cars’ powerful core computing coupled with their advanced sensor set—with or without a lidar,” the statement continued. “This situation has an effect on some customer orders, and we regret any concerns this might cause. We’re currently in the process of contacting affected customers.”
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