TechCrunch Mobility: A takeover that might not be hostile

by | Oct 19, 2025 | Technology

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Want another reason to get this free in your inbox? The emailed version of this newsletter includes polls, including one this week that asks readers what they think the best business model is for autonomous vehicle technology. Have an opinion about this? Email me your opinion at [email protected] with the subject line “AV poll.”

OK, back to the show. There’s another twist in the road for lidar company Luminar. And yes, it includes some inside-the-boardroom intrigue. 

First, let’s catch up. You might recall that Austin Russell, the billionaire founder and CEO of Luminar, was more or less pushed out of the company by its board following an ethics inquiry. But Russell didn’t go quietly into the night. 

He popped back up on our radar a few weeks ago with the launch of a new company called Russell AI Labs. And now (cue the deep and foreboding “dum dum duuuuummmm”): He has made a bid to acquire Luminar. 

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane broke the story, which you can read here. He has since learned a few more details beyond what is disclosed in the SEC filing. 

This may look like a possible hostile move — it was, after all, disclosed in a filing from Russell, and Luminar is not commenting on the proposal. But we’ve learned from a source that members of Luminar’s board approached the founder about the idea last month. (The word we were told was they “encouraged” it.)

The implication here is that some of Luminar’s nine-member board really does want him back, despite the fact that three of those board members on the audit committee conducted an ethics inquiry into him just a few months ago, leading to his resignation.

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The proposed takeover as described in the filing is vag …

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