Austin Russell

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Austin Russell
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Born (1995-03-14) March 14, 1995 (age 29)[1]
Newport Beach, California
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Alma materStanford University
Occupation
  • Engineer
  • Inventor
  • Entrepreneur

Austin Russell is an American engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of lidar company Luminar Technologies. Russell was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2018. In December 2020, when Luminar Initial public offering, Russell became the world's youngest self-made billionaire at the age of 25.

Early life and education

Russel grew up in Newport Beach, California.[2] At age 2, he memorized the periodic table.[3][2] According to Russell, he began writing software at age 10 or 11.[4] In the sixth grade, he programmed the firmware in his Nintendo DS to turn it into a working cell phone.[5] He converted the family garage into an electrical and optics research laboratory when he was 11, paid for by winnings from Super Smash Bros. tournaments.[2] When he was 13, he invented a water recycling system he later patented[6][3] and began to focus his studies on optics and photonics.[7] At age 15, he built a holographic keyboard to take notes in class.[5][8] That same year, Russell's parents introduced him to laser entrepreneur Jason Eichenholz, who became Russell's mentor and later joined Luminar as co-founder[9] and chief technology officer.[10]

Russell received his first patent at age 17.[8] He graduated from St. Margaret's Episcopal School in 2013.[5] He also studied at the Beckman Laser Institute at the University of California, Irvine[6] while in high school.[11] Russell uses social media infrequently,[12][13] but he often teaches himself new skills from Wikipedia articles and YouTube videos.[6][14]

Luminar

Russell's early interest in optics and lasers led to a focus on the use of lidar technology for self-driving cars.[15] He started working with lidar at age 14 or 15.[4] He founded Luminar in 2012[16] while he was still in high school,[15] shortly before turning 17.[2] After graduating from high school, he attended Stanford University for three months,[17] taking courses in applied physics.[18] He dropped out in 2013 when he received a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship,[19][16] which gave him the opportunity to devote himself to Luminar full time.[20]

The company spent its first five years in stealth mode.[21] Rather than building a system with off the shelf components, Russell engineered and manufactured all major components of Luminar's lidar system from the chip level up.[22][1] By the time Luminar was ready to emerge from stealth mode, Russell had brought Luminar to its seventh-generation application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design and a fully integrated technology stack.[21] Luminar's prototype sensor detected objects at a range of up to 200 meters.[23]

On December 3, 2020, Luminar went public,[24] trading on the Nasdaq as LAZR.[15] Russell's 104.7 million shares, roughly one third of Luminar's outstanding equity, were worth $2.4 billion at the close of trading on December 3,[6] making Russell the world's youngest self-made billionaire.[25][13] He also became chairman of the company[24] and continued to hold roughly 83% of the company's voting power.[26]

Recognition

  • In 2017, MIT Technology Review named Russell an "Innovator Under 35".[27]
  • In 2018, Forbes named Russell to its "30 Under 30" list for founding and leading Luminar.[28] He also appeared in the Under 30 "hall of fame" list of 30 all-time alumni in 2021.[29]
  • Russell appeared on the Fortune (magazine) magazine 40 Under 40 list in 2021.[30]
  • Motor Trend ranked Russell #41 on its 2022 Power List.[31]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Captain, Sean (April 14, 2017). "This 22-Year-Old CEO Wants To Help Make Self-Driving Cars Affordable". Fast Company. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lublin, Joann S. (20 March 2021). "Where a Young Billionaire Learned Some Old Lessons". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Watanabe, Naoki; Ryugen, Hideaki (May 30, 2021). "Cheaper lidar sensors brighten the future of autonomous cars". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Clifford, Catherine (July 12, 2018). "This 23-year-old founded a company with self-driving car tech that's giving Tesla some competition". CNBC. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 James, Elysse (June 16, 2013). "2013 top graduate: Austin Russell". Orange County Register. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Ohnsman, Alan; Sternlichtsher, Alexandra (December 3, 2020). "Meet The World's Newest—And Youngest—Self-Made Billionaire: Luminar's Austin Russell". Forbes. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  7. ↑ Christian, Bonnie (September 4, 2017). "Meet the boy genius changing the way driverless cars see". Wired UK. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Webb, Alex; Chapman, Lizette; Barinka, Alex (March 30, 2017). "The 22-Year-Old at the Center of the Self-Driving Car Craze". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  9. ↑ McFarland, Matt (June 14, 2018). "Volvo is the latest automaker to bet on this 23-year-old's startup". CNNMoney. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  10. ↑ Soderstrom, Alex (August 25, 2020). "Luminar to go public following multibillion-dollar merger". Orlando Business Journal. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  11. ↑ Ohnsman, Alan (April 13, 2017). "A 22-Year-Old CEO Has A Vision For Making Self-Driving Cars A Reality". Forbes. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Billionaire Beat: Luminar CEO Austin Russell Is Tech's Newest And Youngest Self-Made Billionaire". The Software Report. February 4, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Ohnsman, Alan (April 9, 2021). "How Austin Russell Became The Youngest Self-Made Billionaire". Forbes. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  14. ↑ Khanna, Monit (April 8, 2021). "World's Youngest Billionaire, 26-Year-Old Owes It All To Wikipedia & YouTube". IndiaTimes. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Rosenbaum, Eric (December 3, 2020). "Luminar going public makes 25-year-old Austin Russell one of world's first, and youngest, self-driving billionaires". CNBC. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Vogel, Mike (August 26, 2019). "Orlando's self-driving startup, Luminar Technologies". Florida Trend. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Luminar thinks its lidar for driverless cars can leave Waymo's and Uber's in the dust". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. April 13, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  18. ↑ Said, Carolyn (April 13, 2017). "Luminar makes lidar sensors to help self-driving cars see farther". SFGate. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  19. ↑ Megan Rose Dickey (May 9, 2013). "Peter Thiel Is Giving These 20 Teenagers $100,000 To Drop Out Of School And Start A Company". Business Insider. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  20. ↑ Blasi, Weston (December 4, 2020). "This 25-year-old is now a billionaire, after his self-driving car company Luminar went public". MarketWatch. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Gilder, George (2018). Life after Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781621575764. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  22. ↑ Phillip E. Ross (May 19, 2017). "22-Year-Old Lidar Whiz Claims Breakthrough". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  23. ↑ Tom Simonite (April 13, 2017). "College Dropout Says He's Cracked Self-Driving Cars' Most Crucial Component". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Grossman, Matt (December 3, 2020). "Luminar Rises in Market Debut, Making 25-Year-Old Founder a Billionaire". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  25. ↑ Patel, Nilay (March 2, 2021). "The 25-year-old billionaire building the future of self-driving cars". The Verge. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  26. ↑ Pitcher, Jack (September 18, 2020). "Luminar's Young Founder to Have Full Control When Firm Goes Public". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  27. ↑ Jamie Condliffe (2017). "Pioneers". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  28. ↑ Forbes Staff (2018). "30 Under 30 Youngest". Forbes. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  29. ↑ "Forbes Under 30 Hall of Fame". Forbes. November 30, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  30. ↑ "Austin Russell – 2021 40 Under 40". Fortune. 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  31. ↑ Priddle, Alisa (December 13, 2021). "The 2022 MotorTrend Power List Is Here!". MotorTrend. Retrieved December 14, 2021.

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