Escort Celebrates 50 Years of Driving Innovation and a Legacy of Staying Ahead

From a prototype built inside a repurposed camera to today's connected road-awareness technology, Escort Radar celebrates five decades of driver-first engineering and category-defining innovation 

CHICAGO, Oct. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Escort Radar, a leading name in premium radar detection technology, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, marking five decades of engineering innovation built around a simple idea: drivers deserve more awareness of the road ahead. This milestone celebration will come to life at SEMA 2026, taking place November 3-6 in Las Vegas, where Escort will showcase the evolution of its technology and the products carrying the brand into its next chapter.  

Born from the ingenuity of two automotive enthusiasts who set out to level the playing field against emerging radar speed enforcement technology, Escort has grown from an unconventional prototype into a brand synonymous with premium radar detection and connected driver awareness.   

The story began in 1976, when two engineers developed the first working radar detector prototype, housed inside a repurposed Kodak Brownie camera. That early experimentation led to the founding of Cincinnati Microwave, Inc. in 1976 and, two years later, the debut of the original Escort radar detector. From the beginning, the company was driven by an enthusiast mindset and a willingness to challenge convention in pursuit of better performance.   

"Escort's 50th anniversary represents much more than a milestone. It celebrates the engineering mindset that has defined this brand from the beginning," said Jonas Forsberg, CEO of Cedar Electronics. "Escort was created by drivers who believed technology could give people better information and greater confidence behind the wheel. Fifty years later, that same driver-first philosophy continues to guide us. The technology has evolved tremendously, but our commitment to advancing driving awareness remains at the heart of everything we do." 

Fifty Years Ahead
In the decades since its founding, Escort has continued to evolve alongside a rapidly changing driving environment, developing technology around the needs of driving enthusiasts. This evolution continues to live on in a performance-driven lineup of premium radar detectors supported by continuous firmware updates.  This year at SEMA, Escort will showcase its iconic history in the North Hall at booth 11031. The celebration will highlight the brand's enduring philosophy: technology built by drivers, for drivers. 

Today, Escort looks to its history not simply as something to celebrate, but as the foundation for what comes next. The brand's modern connected road-awareness systems carry forward the same instinct that inspired its earliest engineers: understanding what drivers need, anticipating what is coming next and using technology to deliver greater awareness and confidence on the road.   

Explore our product lineup and history at www.escortradar.com/pages/escort-50th-anniversary.

About Escort  
Escort is a major brand of Cedar Electronics, a global supplier of connected automotive and consumer electronics solutions. Escort is the leader in premium, high-performance radar detectors and driver alert systems, bringing together advanced product technology to build solutions with extreme range detection, full 360° directional awareness, accuracy against false alerts and stealth capabilities. Escort users can access the exclusive driver community for real-time and shared driving alerts. With its class-leading Redline, MAX, and Custom Install series, Escort leads the industry in developing and marketing global solutions that empower people to Drive Smarter and Safer. To learn more, please visit EscortRadar.com.  

SOURCE ESCORT, Inc.