--- description: Find out how Austin Russell is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. title: 2022 TIME100 Next: Austin Russell image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00d2b7ac7af6d53f/698a35f909208f67d24199de/time100-next-austin-russell-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 28, 2022 # Austin Russell by [Alejandro de la Garza](/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/) ## Alejandro de la Garza Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  AP Austin Russell’s journey to becoming the world’s youngest self-made billionaire started in 2012, when he founded Luminar Technologies. The company specializes in cheap, compact lidar systems, which use lasers to help [cars see their surroundings](https://time.com/4913686/startups-laser-focused-helping-self-driving-cars-see/ "undefined")—a technology important to developing self-driving vehicles. But Russell says he’s more focused on making driving safer than getting rid of the humans at the wheel—and his approach has paid off. Ten years in, Luminar is a leader in the industry, creating lidar systems for companies like Volvo and Nissan. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2022/6213925/austin-russell/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2022/6213925/austin-russell/"},"headline":"Austin Russell","datePublished":"2022-09-28T09:58:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:06:45.726Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2022/6213925/austin-russell/","keywords":["TIME 100 Next","sponsorshipblock","time100nextphenoms2022"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00d2b7ac7af6d53f/698a35f909208f67d24199de/time100-next-austin-russell-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alejandro de la Garza","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/"}],"creator":"Alejandro de la Garza","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00d2b7ac7af6d53f/698a35f909208f67d24199de/time100-next-austin-russell-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2022/6213925/austin-russell/","name":"Austin Russell"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 Next Montage","description":"This is the 2022 TIME100 Next","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Evi3gzPT/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2022-09-28T10:00:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Evi3gzPT.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2022/6213925/austin-russell/","duration":"PT1M34S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2022/6213925/austin-russell/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```