Luminar Technologies Stock Continues To Surge: What's Going On?

Luminar Technologies Inc LAZR shares are trading higher on Tuesday. The stock appears to be continued momentum after the company’s lidar technology was featured in a video from a prominent YouTuber.

What Happened: In his latest video, former NASA engineer and YouTuber Mark Rober put Luminar’s lidar technology up against Tesla Inc’s TSLA Autopilot system.

The "Can You Fool A Self Driving Car?" video already has more than 13 million views and showcases lidar’s superior detection ability compared to traditional cameras.

Rober performed six road tests designed to show the difference between what a computer sees and what lidar detects in varying conditions.

Luminar's lidar technology passed all tests, but Tesla's Autopilot system failed to detect objects in heavy fog and in a simulated downpour. Tesla's Autopilot also failed the "Wile E Coyote" wall test, but the video is getting backlash for being misleading.

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Rober didn’t actually test Tesla's latest Full Self-Driving system, or any self-driving system for that matter. He tested Tesla's Autopilot system, which is an older driver-assistance tool for highways, similar to some cruise control systems.

Although it’s not a fair comparison, the results showed Luminar’s lidar technology successfully brought the vehicle to a stop despite facing a series of simulated road conditions designed to trick the system. Luminar shares closed Monday up approximately 27%, according to Benzinga Pro.

LAZR Price Action: Luminar shares were up 8.26% at $6.95 Tuesday morning. Despite the recent surge, Luminar shares are still down more than 70% over the past year, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: courtesy of Luminar Technologies.