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Kodiak Unveils Autonomous Military Ground Vehicle
This Week in The Autonomy Economy
The Road to Autonomy
September 22, 2024
This Week in The Autonomy Economy is presented by Koop Insurance, a specialist insurance provider focused on robotics and autonomous vehicles.
This Week in The Autonomy Economy, The Road to Autonomy Index returned 2.09%, Kodiak unveiled an autonomous military ground vehicle with Textron, Waymo is in talks with Hyundai to manufacture robotaxis, Cruise is mapping Sunnyvale and Mountain View, California and Aurora Innovation was added to The Road to Autonomy Index as part of the September 2024 rebalance.
Kodiak continues to execute on their diversified business model of developing autonomous driving solutions for trucking, defense and off-road applications. The recently unveiled Textron RIPSAW M3 vehicle powered by Kodiak is just the latest example of an autonomous driving company that is focusing on developing a diversified business with multiple revenue streams.
As Kodiak focuses on developing a diversified business, Intel continues to try and find a path forward for Mobileye. First, Intel was going to explore selling a majority stake in Mobileye, next Intel publicly stated that they have no plans to sell their stake in Mobileye.
Could the change in strategy be because Qualcomm is rumored to be interested in buying Intel? If Qualcomm were to purchase Intel, would they merge parts of Mobileye into their Snapdragon Digital Chassis?
Then there is the wonderful world of media leaks. It appears that Waymo preemptively leaked a manufacturing deal with Hyundai to Reuters to circumvent a potential ban of their custom built Zeekr robotaxi vehicle by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Did Waymo leak the news to get ahead of a potential Zeekr ban that could come as soon as Monday? We will find out in the coming weeks.
Later today at 2pm, we will be releasing the latest episode of Autonomy Markets, co-hosted by Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk. This week, Grayson and Walter discuss Waymo’s potential pivot away from Zeekr to Hyundai, Zoox’s commercialization strategy and why Uber is the platform for autonomy.
On Tuesday, we will be taking to the skies and releasing a The Road to Autonomy podcast with Aleksey Matyushev, Co-Founder & CEO of Natilus about the future of air freight. Followed by an Autonomy Insight with Justin Spratt, Chief Business Officer of Vay about the business of teledriving on Wednesday.
Subscribe today on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts to be notified when the podcasts and insight are released.
In addition to all of the new content, we are proud to introduce Autonomy Briefings. Our market intelligence service, offering bespoke insights and analysis into the emerging autonomy economy, autonomous vehicles, autonomous trucks and overall market trends that are impacting the development and commercialization of autonomy.
If you are interested in learning more about Autonomy Briefings, please kindly send an email to [email protected].
Aurora Innovation and Waymo parent Alphabet are The Road to Autonomy Index component companies
WHAT’S MOVING THE MARKETS | AUTONOMOUS MILITARY GROUND VEHICLES
Kodiak Unveils Autonomous Military Ground Vehicle
Textron RIPSAW M3 Vehicle Powered by Kodiak | Source: Kodiak
On September 18th, Kodiak announced that they have successfully integrated the Kodiak driver and their modular DefensePods into a Textron RIPSAW M3 vehicle.
Deploying autonomy in theatre or in any military application is a blessing, as autonomy will save countless lives. Autonomy gives Generals and Military leaders new tools to win battles, increase military efficiency and secure supply chain resiliency.
As we have written about previously, we believe Kodiak’s SensorPods give the company a unique competitive advantage in the market. They are adaptable to multiple vehicle types including Class-8 trucks, pickup trucks and military vehicles.
If you are interested in learning more about Kodiak and their approach to autonomous driving, we would recommend the following podcast: Developing a Versatile Autonomous Driving Business, A Conversation with Andreas Wendel, CTO of Kodiak (August 20, 2024)
Our take: Investing in defense is a hot now. Kodiak is well positioned to benefit from increased investor attention in the sector as well as the U.S. Military’s desire to incorporate automation and autonomy into operations.
WHAT’S MOVING THE MARKETS | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
Waymo is Talks with Hyundai To Manufacture Robotaxis
Waymo Sensor Suite | Source: Waymo
On September 19th, Reuters reported that Waymo is currently in talks with Hyundai to produce a robotaxi. The news comes as Waymo continues to face political pressure about their unforced error in partnering with Geely on a Zeekr Chinese manufactured robotaxi.
As early as next week, the U.S. Department of Commerce could be introducing rules regarding autonomous vehicles and components that are manufactured in China. Whether those rules apply to hardware, software or both has yet to be determined. Either way, even back in 2021 when the Zeekr deal was announced, this was an unforced error on Waymo’s part as the political uncertainties were widely known and documented at that time.
Perhaps, Waymo made a preemptive move by leaking the deal to Reuters in an effort to get ahead of a potential Zeekr ban? If the deal was indeed leaked to Reuters, it would help to soften the blow in the market and give Waymo a public path forward if the Waymo Zeekr robotaxi is banned in America.
If it was indeed a strategic leak by Waymo and a deal comes to fruition, the next question becomes what happens to Motional? (Hyundai owns 66.8% of Motional)
Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe it’s not, but the day before the Reuters story, Motional announced that founding President & CEO, Karl Iagnemma would be stepping down. First you announce your CEO is stepping down, then a story appears in a global news outlet about a new potential partner using the same vehicle platform as Motional—Ioniq 5.
Next, if the story line holds, Hyundai will next announce Motional has been shuttered and then a few days later an official press release announcing an agreement with Waymo will come out.
Our take: By the end of October if not sooner, we should have clarity on the Waymo/Hyundai deal and what the impact if any it will have on Motional.
Waymo parent Alphabet is a The Road to Autonomy Index component company
WHAT’S MOVING THE MARKETS | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
Cruise is Mapping Sunnyvale and Mountain View
Cruise Autonomous Vehicle | Source: Cruise
Cruise continues to take steps towards relaunching commercial service. On September 19th, Cruise announced that they will be deploying several mapping vehicles in Silicon Valley, as they prepare to expand testing and mapping from Arizona and Texas to California once again.
John Murphy, Research Analyst at BofA Securities offered the following take on Cruise in a September 20th research report:
Ultimately, we expect GM will take a measured approach to its expansion and it will likely be a few years until Cruise derives meaningful revenue from the business. Longer-term, we think robotaxi services run by automakers such as GM are inherently advantaged as they could scale more quickly, and have more control of the entire experience from car design to car features to driving performance, among other advantages.
Mr. Murphy is taking a thoughtful approach to GM’s plans for Cruise. Perhaps we will get more insight and clarity from GM on their Cruise strategy at Investor Day on 10/8?
GM’s investor day comes two days before Tesla’s big robotaxi unveil on 10/10. Could GM make a major announcement or unveil a personally owned autonomous vehicle concept to try and take some of the thunder away from Tesla’s big day? Anything is possible as investors are once again taking a keen interest in autonomous vehicles.
Our take: Investors are once again looking for opportunities to invest in autonomous vehicles and GM is well positioned to take advantage of the market and raise outside capital to further accelerate the development of Cruise’s autonomous driving software.
Cruise is currently ranked #2 with a positive outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the autonomous vehicle category.
Cruise parent GM is a The Road to Autonomy Index component company
PIQUING OUR INTEREST
Changes Continue at Motional On September 18th, Motional announced President & CEO, Karl Iagnemma stepped down and transitioned into the role Senior Strategy Advisor. With Hyundai now in talks with Waymo, it’s just a matter of time until Motional fully shuts down. When it shuts down, the big question that remains is what does Hyundai do with Motional’s technology? Perhaps a personally owned Hyundai autonomous vehicle?
Oxa Makes an Acquisition Oxa has acquired StreetDrone for an undisclosed amount as the company expands into the industrial logistics sector. At a 10x multiple of cash on hand, Oxa would have paid around £1.6 million ($2.1 million) for StreetDrone.
Zoox is Planning to Launch in San Francisco “Soon” Zoox continues to be vague about their plans to launch commercial service in San Francisco saying service will be launching “soon”.
Intel Pivots, Recommits to Mobileye On September 19th, Intel publicly stated it has no plans to sell its majority stake in Mobileye. First, sell, next reconsider. What comes next if Qualcomm buys Intel as part of a potential takeover?
Alibaba and Nvidia Collaborate on Autonomous Vehicles Alibaba and Nvidia are collaborating to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles in China.
SOCIAL BUZZ | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
Waymo’s Foundation Model
Last week Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov presented this slide showing Waymo's architecture. Very different from he caricature you sometimes see of Waymo being stuck with an out of date system based on hand-coded rules. youtu.be/s_wGhKBjH_U?si…
— Timothy B. Lee (@binarybits)
2:43 PM • Sep 19, 2024
In a talk at the University of Michigan, Dmitri Dolgov, co-CEO of Waymo discusses Waymo’s Foundational Model architecture for autonomous driving.
The full talk is available here:
Our take: If you have an hour, it’s worth watching as the lecture sheds some light on Waymo’s approach to autonomous driving.
Waymo is currently ranked #1 with a bullish outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the autonomous vehicle category.
Waymo parent Alphabet is a The Road to Autonomy Index component company
THE ROAD TO AUTONOMY INDEX WEEKLY PERFORMANCE
The Road to Autonomy Index® is a high-definition lens into the emerging world of autonomous vehicles and trucks. It is the world’s first and only pure-play index designed to measure the performance of the autonomous vehicle/truck market.
For the week of September 16th, The Road to Autonomy Index returned 2.09%, the S&P 500 returned 1.36% and the NASDAQ 100 returned 1.42%. The Road to Autonomy Index outperformed the S&P 500 by 0.73% and outperformed the NASDAQ 100 by 0.67%.
The Road to Autonomy Index Performance – Week of September 16, 2024
Year to Date (YTD), The Road to Autonomy Index has returned 13.64%
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THE ROAD TO AUTONOMY PODCAST
Autonomous Vehicles, Regulation and the 2024 Presidential Election
(September 17, 2024) Finch Fulton, Government Affairs and Policy Advisor, K&L Gates joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss autonomous vehicle policy, regulation and the impact that the 2024 Presidential Election could have on the development and commercialization of both autonomous vehicles and autonomous trucks.
AUTONOMY MARKETS PODCAST
Silicon Valley's Changing Autonomous Vehicle Landscape: Licensing, Experiences, Personally Owned AVs
(September 15, 2024) In this episode of Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss the latest developments in the autonomous vehicle industry, drawing insights from Grayson's recent trip to Silicon Valley.