What Is Luke Lango’s “The REAL Tesla Killer” LiDAR Pick?

In a recent InvestorPlace presentation, investment guru Luke Lango talked about a driverless car technology that could help generate $7 trillion in new wealth each year. He calls it the “The REAL Tesla Killer” and says there’s one “under-$20 small-cap at the center of it all.”

What tech is Lango talking about? And what’s his stock pick?

Here’s the short version: the technology Luke Lango is referring to is LiDAR which helps autonomous vehicles navigate using lasers, the company I believe he’s teasing is Luminar Technologies (LAZR), and the service he’s pitching is Innovation Investor ($99).

Read on for my complete take.

What Is “The REAL Tesla Killer?”

According to Luke Lango, a new technology has just been unleashed that will set a “projected global $7 trillion a year megatrend in motion,” and Tesla is “completely in the dark.”

During the presentation, Lango also states that this technology will impact how we work, shop, travel, eat, and more. And that it will transform the numerous sectors, including insurance, healthcare, oil and gas, tourism, and entertainment.

What tech is he referring to?

According to Lango, “it all starts with the tiny device” he shows in the following image:

He says it has to do with the “eyeballs” of driverless cars, and as the presentation continued, he revealed that he’s referring to is LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology.

What’s LiDAR? Wikipedia describes LiDAR technology as a “method for determining ranges” and making digital 3D representations of areas using lasers.

What does it do? In short, the LiDAR laser targets an object and measures how long it takes for the reflected light to return to the receiver.

And this tech can help autonomous vehicles measure the distance between objects and the car, thus helping them navigate the surrounding environment in real-time.

Long story short, Luke Lango is bullish on LiDAR technology. And as a side note, some of the points he made reminded me of another presentation by Charles Mizrahi I wrote about dubbed the “L5 Revolution.” Although it seems Luke Lango is teasing a different stock.

Why does he call it the “Tesla Killer?”

During the presentation, Luke Lango points out that Elon Musk has rejected the idea of LiDAR technology in the past and embraced cameras instead.

I’m not an expert on autonomous vehicles, nor am I privy to the inner workings of Tesla. However, based on my research, it seems that Tesla chose to use cameras because of the differences in how these technologies work.

In short, with a self-driving LiDAR car, everything happens for the first time because the system is constantly scanning the surrounding environment to navigate and detect objects in real-time. Whereas, with a camera-based system like the one Tesla uses, environments are essentially mapped and “remembered” by the system.

There’s an interesting article on venturebeat.com that covers this topic in more detail if you want to learn more, but that’s the general gist of it.

So, why does Luke Lango think LiDAR is superior?

Lango’s argument centers around how cameras don’t see as well as people because they’re much lower resolution. And, as a result, you need lots of cameras for the system to work properly, which can be expensive and bulky.

He also points out that, unlike LiDAR, autonomous vehicles (AVs) fitted with cameras can only “see” in 2D. And he believes this is a “big problem” because it means cameras are less able to sense how far away a person might be if they cross in front of the vehicle.

He sums it up by suggesting that not using LiDAR is a potential flaw in Teslas and shares some headlines related to recent Tesla crashes.

The solution, according to Luke Lango, is LiDAR.

And in the presentation, he explains that the reason Tesla might have rejected LiDAR originally was that it was expensive, whereas now the cost is significantly less.

“Until now, LiDAR sensors were very expensive.”

“That’s likely why Elon Musk was so anti-LiDAR…”

“Back when Tesla started its self-driving efforts in the early 2010s, LiDAR sensors cost as much as $75,000 per sensor!”

“But the cost of LiDAR has plunged in recent years, thanks to certain technological improvements.”

“And the company I’m talking about today? It’s making breakthrough LiDAR sensors for less than $1,000.”

So, what LiDAR company is Lango teasing?

As expected, he doesn’t reveal the company’s name in the presentation. Instead, he shares the details in a report titled “The Secret Startup Taking Driverless Mainstream.”

But I did some digging and, based on the clues in the presentation, I think I know what company he’s interested in. And in the next section, I’ll show you what I found.

What Is Luke Lango’s 2022 LiDAR Stock Pick?

According to Luke Lango, “LiDAR is the future of self-driving,” and his “No. 1 way to play it” is a little-known company that could hand investors a potential 15x return in 5 years.

“Yes. Now of course this is all based on predictions and projections, and nothing is guaranteed, but I believe this is a potential 15x investment opportunity.”

To figure out what company he might be interested in, I looked into the clues he shared in the presentation and scoured the internet to see what I could find.

Here’s an overview of the clues Luke Lango shared in the presentation:

“It recently announced its new LiDAR sensor will sell for as little as $500, compared with $75,000 they used to cost.”

“This is easily a $100+ BILLION company in the making.”

“Yet, its current market cap is less than $10 billion.”

“…Like how it’s developed one of the most POWERFUL LiDAR sensors ever made. With 3x the resolution and 10 times farther range, it can “see” sharper and farther than any competitor on the market.”

“Seven of the world’s top 10 automakers have partnered with this business, including Toyota, Audi, Volvo, Daimler Truck, SAIC Corp – China’s biggest automaker – and more.”

“It also has deals with every major program in driverless trucking and ridesharing services, including Airbus, Intel’s Mobileye, and others.”

“Altogether, this company has 50 commercial partnerships which represent 75% of the major players in its targeted customer ecosystem.”

“Now, Thiel’s betting on this young LiDAR company I’m telling you about today.”

“He was the lead investor on a $170 million round of funding last September.”

Based on these clues and some of the other points in the presentation, I believe Luke Lango’s top LiDAR stock pick is Luminar Technologies (ticker: LAZR).

Here’s an overview of why I think this company is a match:

• Luminar is a Florida-based company specialising in LiDAR self-driving vehicle tech that was publicly listed in December 2020. And according to The Verge, it plans on selling LiDAR to its customer for $1,000 in the future and eventually bringing that number down to $500.
• As of writing, the company’s market cap is just under $4.7 billion and it’s trading at around $13, which matches up with Lango’s “under-$20” comment and the one about market cap.
• Luminar is partnered with the companies Luke Lango mentioned in one form or another, and the company website states Luminar has over 50 commercial partnerships.
• Peter Thiel, along with other investors, invested $170 million into Luminar as part of a SPAC deal in 2020.

I’m not in a position to say whether or not this company’s technology is superior to other LiDAR companies or not. Nor will I comment on whether I think it’s a good investment.

However, based on my research, Luminar is the company Luke Lango’s teasing in “The REAL Tesla Killer” presentation because it matches everything he talked about.

That said, if you want to find out for sure and get the details behind why he’s potentially so interested in this company, you’ll need to read the report I mentioned earlier, “The Secret Startup Taking Driverless Mainstream.” And the only way to access that report is to join Innovation Investor because you get that report as a bonus for signing up.

In a moment, I’ll give you the heads up on what that service is about and how it works. But first, let’s look at the person behind all of this, Luke Lango.

Who Is Luke Lango?

Luke Lango is an investment expert that specializes in growth stocks, and he runs numerous investment advisory services for a financial education company called InvestorPlace.

According to his InvestorPlace profile, before sharing stock tips, Luke Lango was the founding manager of a San Diego-based investment fund called L&F Capital Management that focused on long-term, early-stage growth investments.

Today, Luke Lango heads up five advisory services for InvestorPlace. His flagship service is Innovation Investor, but he also runs the Daily 10x Stock Report, Early Stage Investor, Ultimate Crypto, and the Crypto Investor Network which I’ve reviewed.

Each service covers different investments and strategies, but they’re all focused on technology, particularly emerging technology trends.

I’ve written about some of his presentations, too.

For example, most recently, I wrote about his “$3 wonder stock,” which centered around a company that makes solid-state batteries for electric vehicles.

From what I’ve seen, Luke Lango is a real investment guru, and he has a solid track record. During the presentation, he shares numerous examples of tech companies he’s recommended over the years. And at one point, he was the number one ranked investment blogger on a third-party rating site called TipRanks.

How Does Innovation Investor Work?

Innovation Investor is an investment advisory Luke Lango runs for InvestorPlace focused on emerging trends, or “megatrends as Lango calls them.

For instance, some of the sectors the service covers include autonomous vehicles, 5G, supercomputing, blockchain technology, and artificial intelligence.

As a subscriber of the service, you get access to one new issue of Innovation Investor each month over 12 months. Each issue covers Luke Lango’s latest investment insights, at least one new investment idea, and the reasons behind each recommendation.

You also get access to the Innovation Investor model portfolio, updates on the recommendations he makes, and as part of the “Tesla Killer” presentation, Luke Lango is offering subscribers three bonus reports.

The Secret Startup Taking Driverless Cars Mainstream is the first one, which details the stock he talks about in the presentation, which I think is Luminar.

The second report is called “3 World-Changing AI Stocks to Buy NOW,” and the third is “The VC Insider’s Millionaire Playbook.”

How much does it cost? A 12-month subscription to Innovation Investor is $99, and it comes with a one-year refund policy, according to the InvestorPlace website.

How well have the Innovation Investor stock picks performed?

According to Luke Lango:

“The average annualized gain in 2020 for this service was 69.2%. This return measures the results achieved by all our recommendations in 2020, scaled to a 1-year period.”

The presentation we’ve discussed today was released in October 2021, which likely explains why the 2021 results weren’t mentioned. Still, a 69% average gain is pretty good.

However, keep in mind that just because an advisory has done well in the past does not guarantee it will help you make money in the future. So, as with any advisory, it’s still possible you could lose money by following the Innovation Investor stock picks.

Bottom Line

After going through Luke Lango’s recent LiDAR technology presentation, I believe the company he’s teasing is Luminar Technologies.

And as mentioned, the service he’s pitching is Innovation Investor, a tech-focused growth stock advisory that costs $99 per year to access.

On the plus side, Innovation Investor is a legitimate service. It’s also affordable and comes with a one-year refund policy. So, considering Luke Lango’s track record, I think it could be worth checking out if you’re interested in learning about emerging tech companies.

On the other hand, there are risks involved when speculating in the market, so there’s no guarantee you’ll make money following Luke Lango’s stock picks, let alone 15X in the next five years, which he’s predicting his LiDAR pick could see.

Either way, I hope you found this post helpful. And if you’d like to share your thoughts on Luke Lango’s presentation or services, leave a comment below.