Luminar (LAZR.US) stock surges on Monday after a viral video showcasing a laser radar test, "beating" Tesla.

Intellasia.com reports that after NASA scientist Mark Robert tested a car equipped with Luminar's (LAZR.US) LiDAR technology in a YouTube video and said its performance was better than Tesla's (TSLA.US) Autopilot feature, Luminar's stock soared on Monday. Shares rose 27.13% to close at US$6.42.

The video, which has been viewed more than 11 million times since its March 15 release on YouTube, saw Robert conduct six tests comparing the LiDAR technology to Tesla's system, which he said relied on "simple cameras" and image processing for navigation.

Luminar's shares surged to their biggest gain in more than two months, while Tesla's shares fell 4.8%, underperforming the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100.

Robert, who worked at NASA and Apple before launching a YouTube channel with more than 65 million subscribers, described the video as being provided by Luminar for testing purposes, but without any financial compensation or paid promotion from the company. Links to the YouTube video were posted on Luminar's X and LinkedIn accounts on March 15.

LiDAR stands for light detection and ranging, and is a sensor technology that sends out laser pulses and measures the time it takes for them to bounce back from objects. The data is used to calculate distances and create a 3D map of objects in a given area.

Despite Monday's gains, Luminar's shares are still down about 80% from their year-high in July last year. The company will report its fourth-quarter results after the market closes on March 20.