Tesla loses vice president of legal Al Prescott leaves to join Luminar

Tesla‘s longstanding vice president of legal and acting general counsel, Al Prescott, has left the electric vehicle and renewable energy company to join Luminar, a lidar startup.

The move is noteworthy in many ways. For one, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long insisted that lidar technology, or light ranging and detection sensors, is too expensive and not necessary for development of autonomous vehicles. Prescott’s move to Luminar, where he will serve as chief legal officer, is an endorsement of the technology, however.

Prescott said in a statement to CNBC:

“Luminar has pioneered safety-critical technology that will power our autonomous future. As someone…