Leaderboard manufacturer Luminar declared bankruptcy after conflict with Volvo

American company Luminar, which specializes in automotive headlights, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This is reported by TechCrunch. The decision was the result of a protracted crisis, accompanied by staff cuts, the departure of top managers and a legal conflict with its largest customer Volvo.

As part of the procedure, Luminar intends to sell its core business of manufacturing headlights, and also agreed to sell a subsidiary semiconductor company. Until the time of bankruptcy, the company will continue its operations to minimize risks for customers and suppliers, but after the completion of the transactions, Luminar plans to cease to exist.

Court documents estimate the company’s assets in the range of $ 100 to $ 500 million with liabilities of $ 500 million to $ 1 billion. Among the creditors are Scale AI, to which Luminar owed about $ 10 million for data labeling services, as well as Applied Intuition with a debt of more than $ 1 million.

2025 was a watershed year for Luminar. In May, founder Austin Russell stepped down as CEO after an internal ethics investigation, though he retained his seat on the board. In the fall, he founded Russell AI Labs and filed to buy Luminar. During that time, the company went through two rounds of layoffs, laid off about a quarter of its staff, lost its CFO, defaulted on a number of loans, and was under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Volvo’s decision in November to terminate its five-year contract with Luminar was an additional blow. In response, the company filed a lawsuit against the automaker, but was countersued by a sensor partner. At the same time, Luminar faced an eviction lawsuit from one office and refused to lease another, which only accelerated the crisis.