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Tesla Model 3 Delivery Rumors Help Keep D20 Stock Index Even

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The rumors circulating that deliveries of the Tesla Model 3 have significantly ramped up helped keep the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) from suffering from a third consecutive weekly loss. 

Hundreds of Tesla Model 3 vehicles have appeared at delivery centers, leading the market to believe that the automaker has conquered its production problems after a slow start, and is finally creating the vehicles at the rate they originally planned.

Tesla stock has responded appropriately, gaining 9.0 percent this week, while being the leading price-percentage gainer for the D20 in each of the last two weeks.

With 11 price losers and nine gainers, the D20 remained unchanged this week, closing at 252.14 and stopping a slide after two consecutive weeks of losses. For the third week in a row it lost ground to both the Dow, which gained 1.3 percent, and the S&P 500, which inched up 0.9 percent and closed at 2,675.81.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers: 

Upstream, an Israeli-based startup, has announced it has landed a $9-million Series A round of funding. The focus of the startup is on security for connected vehicles. It aims to protect vehicles that use services like On-Star with a cloud-based SaaS application versus an on-board security application.

Ouster, a LiDAR startup, announced it has raised $27 million in a Series A, to push its technology into mass production. Its first product, a 64-channel sensor called OS1, is available now and priced at $12,000. The company has focused on design for manufacturability and has monthly production targets of 1,000 in January 2018 and tens of thousands by the end of 2018.

Image: Tesla Model 3 / Credit: Tesla Motors

News Roundup: Ford Teases All-New Hybrid-Electric Self-Driving Car, Ouster Puts Its Autonomous Drive Sensor Up For Sale Online, and More

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Jennifer van der Kleut

Ford teases all-new hybrid-electric car designed specifically as a self-driving model

Ford Motors’s executive vice-president of global products, Jim Farley, gave a small sneak-peek this week as to the company’s plans for a self-driving car. In a blog post posted on Medium, Farley said the company has been hard at work behind the scenes designing an entirely new hybrid-electric model to serve as the company’s flagship driverless car. Farley says it will be suited for commercial deployment in both ride-hailing and delivery fleets. Ford representatives plan to start testing these vehicles in 2018, and said they are currently on track for commercial deployment in 2021. The cars will reportedly be manufactured at the company’s Flat Rock Assembly Plant in southeastern Michigan. Read more from Car and Driver.

 

Ouster: Our self-driving Lidar sensor is better, cheaper, and you can buy it now

It’s no secret that there is intense competition in the driverless transportation industry for the software, hardware and sensors that allow vehicles to navigate without needing human drivers. One startup, Ouster, is making waves this week by announcing to the world that their Lidar sensor is better than anything else currently on the market, is less expensive, and, most notably, it’s available for purchase now. The San Francisco-based firm has put its spinning, 64-laser OS1 Lidar sensor up for sale on its website at a price of $12,000. What’s more, the startup said it has raised $27 million from investors like Ford Motors’s Bill Ford and Cox Enterprises to boost production in anticipation of orders. In comparison, one of the most popular sensors on the market today, Velodyne’s HDL-64 sells for $75,000, and Ouster says its sensor is lighter, smaller and more efficient. Some compare the size of Velodyne’s sensor to a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, whereas Ouster’s sensor is half the size of a standard coffee mug. Read more about Ouster and its sensor from Forbes.

 

Apple exec shows off self-driving technology to large group of researchers

The usually secretive Apple gave a rare glimpse into its work on machine learning last week when the company’s director of artificial intelligence, Ruslan Salakhutdinov, entertained a large group of AI researchers during a conference. Salakhutdinov demonstrated how Apple uses machine learning as a technique for analyzing large stockpiles of data, and how it can be beneficial to self-driving vehicles. VoxelNet, Apple’s machine learning project that pertains to self-driving cars, can reportedly detect obstacles such as pedestrians and cyclists efficiently using 3D scans taken by lidar sensors, as well as cameras that can effectively track a car’s location in real-time. Salakhutdinov demonstrated how the VoxelNet software can detect pedestrians even when they are partially hidden behind parked cars, and during inclement weather when raindrops fell on the sensors. Read more from WIRED.

Image: Ouster sensor on a self-driving car navigating in the rain. / Credit: Ouster

News Roundup: Apple Publishes Self-Driving Car Research, Uber Makes Big Purchase For Self-Driving Fleet, and More

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Jennifer van der Kleut

Apple publishes snippets of its self-driving car research online

In spite of its highly secretive past when it comes to whether or not the company is investing in the development of self-driving technology, Apple scientists this week published some of their research findings online. The paper, written by Yin Zhou and Oncel Tuzel, was submitted to the Japanese news outlet arXiv. It mostly discusses the two scientists’ ideas as to how self-driving cars could better spot human obstacles such as pedestrians and cyclists while at the same time using fewer sensors using only LiDAR. Zhou and Tuzel call their newly-dreamt-up software approach “VoxelNet.” In April, Apple filed an application for the testing of self-driving vehicles in California. Read more from Reuters.

 

Uber inks deal to purchase 24,000 Volvos for self-driving fleet

As the company deals with major blowback over its alleged cover-up of the theft of 57 million users and drivers by hackers, Uber is still moving ahead with big plans. Namely, one of its big plans that made headlines this week was a billion-dollar-deal with Sweden’s Volvo Cars to purchase 24,000 of the automaker’s XC90s for the forming of its own self-driving fleet. Uber representatives will reportedly add their own sensors and software to the cars to give them the ability to operate “pilot-less.” Uber previously agreed to use 100 XC90s for self-driving tests in Pittsburgh. Read more from SFGate.

 

UK’s new budget includes big investment to get driverless cars on public roads within the next few years

The UK’s Treasury announced this week that the government is including millions of pounds in its next budget for technology, with a significant portion earmarked for the advancement of driverless vehicle technology. The package will reportedly include 75 million for “artificial intelligence,” 160 million for the development of 5G mobile technology, and 100 million for the training of more computer science teachers throughout the nation. Interestingly, a press release by the Treasury also promised “bold reforms” and a huge investment of 28 billion for the advancement of driverless technology that means “nobody behind the wheel.” In particular, the British company FiveAI, which develops self-driving software, is already hard at work aiming to have driverless cars on public roads by 2019, though still with humans behind the wheel for emergencies. However, within just two years after that, FiveAI representatives say they expect to have fully-autonomous cars ready for the public that would include “remote supervision.” Read more from BBC News.

Image by Uber

Volkswagen Comeback Leads D20 to Small Gain

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A strong comeback has made Volkswagen (VLKPY) the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index’s percentage price gainer of the week.

It appears that market analysts are beginning to think that Volkswagen is a “buy” again.  After a little over a year of stock market punishment that saw Volkswagen lose 42 percent of its market value in less than a month due to “Diesel-gate,” Volkswagen is making a comeback.

Volkswagen stock has almost made it back to where it was in early September of 2015-around $36 per share-which is when the bad news broke. Volkswagen’s stock jumped 5.45 percent this past week, closing at $35.22.

Thirteen price gainers just barely overcame seven large losers, to nudge the D20 up 0.17 points to close the week at 255.44. The D20’s 0.1 percent gain was not enough to beat the Dow which added 0.5 percent to its value or the S&P 500 which inched up 0.2 percent.

Chinese electric vehicle maker, BYD (BYDDY) was the D20’s stock price percentage loser this week. Its price dropped from $19.52 to $17.71, a 9.3-percent drop. Global competition in the electric and hybrid vehicle market continues to heat up and hurt BYD’s stock price.

Another D20 lowlight was Tesla (TSLA), whose stock price dropped 7 percent in advance of its earnings release this coming Wednesday, as the number of Model 3s produced in this quarter was 80 percent less than targeted.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Nutonomy, the Boston-based driverless car software company, has announced that it was purchased by D20 constituent Delphi (DLPH) for $450 million. The purchase doubles the number of engineers working for Delphi on driverless technology to 200.  Nutonomy’s previous partnerships with Lyft and Peugeot will continue.

Blickfeld, a German start-up focused on developing LiDAR systems for driverless vehicles, announced that it has received $4.25 million in venture seed funding. Blickfeld’s approach is to use off-the-shelf components and silicon, which should lower the cost per unit when they are put into production in vehicles. One of the investors is Fluxunit, part of Osram/Sylvania, one of the world’s leading lighting technology companies.

NVIDIA Unveils New Pegasus AI Computer, Boosting Stock and Taking D20 With It

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This week marked a new all-time high for NVIDIA (NVDA), whose stock price soared 7.3 percent to close at $194.59 a share after the company unveiled its new Pegasus AI computer, which is designed for driverless vehicles.

The license plate-sized computer is 10 times more powerful than its predecessor, the NVIDIA Drive PX 2, and is driven by four high-performance, GPU-embedded AI processors.

Thanks to the incredible performance by NVIDIA, the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) jumped 1.7 percent to 256.36, its fifth consecutive weekly gain.

As a percentage of value, the D20 has now beaten or tied the Dow and S&P 500 for eight straight weeks. The Dow increased 0.4 percent and closed at 2871.72 this week, while the S&P 500 inched up to 2553.17, a 0.2-percent gain.

In other D20 news, after gaining 75 percent in the last five weeks, BYD Company’s (BYDDY) stock reversed itself and was the D20’s leading price-percentage loser last week. It lost 4.1 percent and closed at $20.11 as rumors subsided about China mandating all vehicles be electric-like those made by BYD-in some of its cities.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Velodyne, the most established LiDAR manufacturer, has announced that they have quadrupled production capacity of their high-performance LiDAR sensors to meet growing demand. This production increase was made possible by Velodyne’s investment in a 200,000-square-foot mega-factory in San Jose, California.

In other LiDAR news, General Motor’s (GM) driverless division, Cruise, has acquired Strobe, a LiDAR sensor maker which, while trying to reduce cost and complexity, has reduced its LiDAR sensor array to one chip.

Blackberry’s Stock Price Explodes, Taking the D20 Stock Index With It

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BlackBerry (BBRY) exploded for a 22.5-percent gain in stock price this week, helping the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) achieve its third consecutive weekly gain.

The BlackBerry share price rose from $9.13 to $11.18 this week, helping eight other gainers overcome 11 price losers and push the D20 up 0.7 percent to close the week at 246.20.

BlackBerry made an announcement  this week that it expects the company will beat a $19-million quarterly profit expectation, pushing Blackberry’s stock price to levels not seen since November of 2014.

The D20 outpaced the Dow’s 0.2-percent gain and matched the S&P 500’s 0.7-percent gain. Since April of 2017, the Dow has risen 8.5 percent while the D20 has skyrocketed 32.5 percent.

Nissan (NSANY) was the D20’s largest price-percentage loser last week. It lost 5.6 percent of its value on news that 11.21 million Nissan cars in Japan will have to be recalled.

Delphi (DLPH) has announced that is going to spin off its automated driving and electrification business in March, and that it will call the new business Aptiv. The D20 will be modified to reflect Delphi’s changes and convert Delphi’s position to Aptiv’s when the spinoff is formalized.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up and Comers:

Luminar, has emerged from stealth mode and announced that one of its current major partners is the Toyota Research Institute (TRI). TRI has just updated its driverless test car to its latest version, 2.1, which now includes Luminar’s LiDAR technology. Luminar’s approach to Lidar has been to design everything from scratch to enable their product to “see” further, to detect black matte surfaces better and yet still be safe for the human eye.

Blackberry Royalty Settlement Helps Stock Rise Again, Bringing D20 to a New High

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With 10 price gainers and 10 price losers this week, one would expect the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) to take a week off and end its consecutive gain streak, but the D20 defied convention and rose for the sixth straight week. Led by Blackberry once again, the D20 added 2.83 points, or 1.4 percent, to end the week at 210.16, which is a new high.

The Dow and S&P 500 kept pace with the D20 this week as the S&P 500 rose 1.4 percent and the Dow gained 1.3 percent to close over 21,000 at 21,080.28.

For the second week in a row, Blackberry (BBRY) was the leading percentage price gainer, jumping 7 percent to close at $11.11 a share on news that its settlement from a royalty dispute with Qualcomm was significantly higher than originally expected.

This week, Ford Motor Co. (F) shook up the industry by replacing its CEO with the head of its new mobility division.  By losing more than 20 percent of its value, Ford’s stock has had the worst record of any D20 stock since August of 2015, and may finally be getting serious about changes to the 114-year-old enterprise.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Innoviz, an Israeli start-up, has announced a solid state after-market LiDAR unit aimed at the prototyping and testing market for automakers and Tier-1 auto parts suppliers. The unit, called InnovizPro, is squarely aimed at the market where driverless car companies are spending near $70,000 a unit for Velodyne LiDAR systems for their prototypes and testing units.

D20 Stock Index Closes Out 2016 With a Slight Dip

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The Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) retreated from an all-time high and three consecutive weeks of gains by dropping 2.41 points, or 1.4 percent, to close the week (and the year) at 174.04.

Fourteen price losers and only six price gainers ensured that the D20 followed the Dow, which slumped 0.9 percent, and the S&P 500, which fell 1.1 percent.

Mobileye (MBLY) had a great week, closing the year by announcing that it had partnered with HERE to provided crowd-sourced High Definition (HD) mapping.  Its stock rose 9.73 percent to close at $38.12.  Audi, Mercedes and BMW purchased HERE, a detailed mapping data provider, from Nokia in early 2016.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Automile, a Palo Alto-based startup, has secured $7.5 million in Series A funding to build out and expand its fleet logistics and management business.  It is a telematics play allowing fleet managers to easily install a device under the dash to report back mileage logs, trip statistics, real-time location tracking and accident alerts, as well as plan predictive maintenance.

D20 constituent company, Magna (MGA) has teamed up with LiDAR-maker Innoviz to complete its suite of sensing technologies for driverless vehicle systems.  Innoviz is developing a solid-state LiDAR system that has a target cost of $100 per unit and a small physical footprint.  Magna is a key Tier 1 supplier to almost every major automaker.

NVIDIA Leads D20 to Another Record High, Solidifies Its Place as Index’s Best-Performing Stock of 2016

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Eleven price losers out of 20 stocks couldn’t hold the Driverless Transportation’s Weekly Stock Index (D20) back as it gained 1.54 points to close at a new record high of 174.12, led largely by another big gain from NVIDIA.

The D20’s 0.9-percent gain outperformed the Dow, which gained 0.4 percent to close at 19843.41 and the S&P 500, which remained virtually unchanged at 2258.07.

NVIDIA (NVDA), which rocketed 9.36 percent to close at more than $100 per share at $100.41. For a little perspective, on Feb. 12, 2016 it closed at $25.73. In 10 months, NVIDIA has grown more than 290 percent, making it by far the leading stock in the D20’s portfolio for 2016.

After being last week’s percentage price leader, Delphi (DLPH) fell back to Earth and was the D20’s percentage price loser this week.  Delphi lost 4.8 percent of its value and closed at $68.10.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Velodyne has announced plans to introduce a solid-state LiDAR design that should bring costs of the system to around $50 per car when manufactured at volume. The solid-state design allows the device to have fewer moving parts, which will in turn increase reliability and reduce the overall size.

LiDAR continues to be one of the best options for driverless car designers to use as a highly accurate and precise sensor of stationary and moving objects around the vehicle.

Visteon Drives D20 Stock Index to All-Time High

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Visteon (VC) jumped up 14.1 percent on market anticipation that Samsung’s purchase of Harman International Industries will spur an acquisition spree of vehicle electronics companies like Visteon.

Visteon’s $9.81-a-share gain drove the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) to its highest point ever, 164.99.  The D20’s previous high was 163.53 in December of 2015.

Twelve price gainers and eight losers helped the D20 outgain the Dow and S&P 500 this week. The D20’s 1.6 percent gain was twice that of the S&P 500, which gained 0.8 percent, and the Dow, which barely edged up 0.1 percent.

Ford (F) was the D20’s price-percentage loser, dropping 4.2 percent of its value and closing the week at $11.76.  Ford recently cut its 2017 profit forecast by $300 million as many of its previous year’s low-cost leases had flooded the used car market and diluted profits in its financing unit.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

 

Up-and-Comers:

Munich, Germany-based Osram Opto Semiconductors has released a much less expensive lidar systems package.  Its target cost is $5 versus the $70,000 price of the original tower systems and the more recent puck-shaped $8,000 systems.  Its four-channel laser bar simplifies adjustment and its use of the Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) mirrors to deflect the laser beams has allowed the significant cost reductions.