LiDAR sensor and technology builders Cepton and Luminar recently announced their expansion plans respectively, aiming to scale the market as well as to speed up technology development.

Cepton Technologies, who began partnership with Japan-based Koito, appointed industry veteran Andrew Klaus as country manager for Japan, marking its continued expansion into the Japanese and Asian markets.

Klaus’ role will initially focus on building Cepton’s market share in Japan, where the company has experienced growing demand for its high-performance LiDAR solutions across automotive, auto-adjacent and non-automotive sectors.

Cepton also assigned Henri Haefner to lead Cepton’s efforts in the autonomous mobility sector in EMEA. He will focus on ADAS programs at major automotive OEMs, AV programs and Tier 1 partnerships. Klaus Wagner has joined Cepton as well to support Cepton’s growth in auto-adjacent and non-automotive markets such as intelligent transportation systems (ITS), smart spaces, mapping and other industrial applications.

Another LiDAR company Luminar announced the expansion of its leadership as well for driving into its next phase of growth in automotive. Over the next 18 months, the company is scaling its technology into series production, starting with Volvo in 2022, and will begin shipping its Iris sensing and perception platform within the year.

Luminar appointed a new CFO, Tom Fennimore and included Matthew Simoncini to its Board of Directors. The company also welcomed Marc Losewitz and Aaron Jefferson as Vice President of Automotive Business Development and Vice President of Product, respectively. Also joining the automotive business team is Jason Rudd, who will be driving Luminar’s growing European business presence and programs.