HomeLatest FeedsTechnology NewsThe revolution of self-driving vehicles is advancing at a snail's pace, so...

The revolution of self-driving vehicles is advancing at a snail’s pace, so investors are spending their money differently



The promise that autonomous vehicles will cover the roads and transform transportation will not come to fruition for a long time, but in other areas, investors may reap laurels much sooner.

Developing fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) that can go anywhere has proven more difficult and expensive than expected. And investors still prefer to fund startups that aim for simpler self-driving vehicle solutions that distance themselves from pedestrians and other unpredictable human-operated vehicles.

UK-based AV software company Oxbotica, Sweden’s Einride, US-based Outrider and UK-based Aurrigo International are among the suppliers of companies targeting smaller, simpler customer segments of interest to investors – from mining vehicles to tractors or forklifts – and working with more focused approaches. – writes a Reuters in its comprehensive compilation.

After seeing robotaxi companies spend billions on technology that may be years away, investors are looking for startups that burn less money and, if possible, generate revenue now, said Kasper Sage, head of BMW’s venture capital fund, BMW iVentures. managing partner, who in October led the $20 million funding round of autonomous forklift company Fox Robotics.

“Full autonomy in all kinds of environments is still a matter of years, if not decades. You need a business idea that works. You need to make the problem smaller.”

The robotaxi companies have fallen far short of their previous promises that they will be operating fleets of vehicles by the beginning of the 2020s. When Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen shut down their Argo AI self-driving unit in November, Ford CEO Jim Farley said the profitable robotaxi business was still years away. Ford’s rival, General Motors Co, spent nearly $2 billion last year on its robot taxi unit called Cruise, and said it expects to spend even more in 2023. The problem is that making robot cars that drive safer than humans is immeasurably difficult. This is because AV systems are still not capable of quickly recognizing (predicting) human drivers and assessing risks, especially when they encounter unexpected events.

When it became clear that the robot taxi era was still a long way off, investors in 2021 turned instead to self-driving truck companies that promised a faster route to market by driving trucks autonomously, arguing that it would be easier to develop AVs that which travel at high speed on highways without pedestrians. But even these startups have struggled because a fast-driving robot still can’t match the human brain. Autonomous truck technology company Aurora, for example, has a market value of $2 billion, a fraction of the $12.5 billion it was valued at when it went public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in 2021.

Faced with the long-term conundrum that humans and robots don’t mix well, investors have gone back to basics, targeting less complicated, less cash-intensive forms of autonomy that have a clearer path to return and operate at lower speeds while at most they have to deal with traffic.

BMW iVentures has also invested in autonomous truck technology company Kodiak Robotics, which takes a simpler approach to areas such as mapping. In October, Kodiak won a $50 million contract from the US military to develop autonomous vehicles.

“It helps that we don’t spend a lot of money like some people”

said Don Burnette, CEO of Kodiak.

According to Jonathan Geurkink, senior analyst at PitchBook, total venture capital flowing into AV businesses in the fourth quarter fell 47 percent to $1.4 billion from a year earlier. But $500 million of that went to AV electric truck company Einride, which is working to put self-driving trucks on public roads by first focusing on less congested private roads at the logistics and manufacturing centers of clients like GE Appliances, the Chinese appliance unit of Haier. .

“The investment shift … towards off-road/more structured environments is very real, given the lack of progress in passenger car-based AVs (and) the high capital requirements that come with it”

– said Asad Hussain, research partner at the private equity firm Mobility Impact Partners.

Last month, UK AV software startup Oxbotica announced $140 million in funding to roll out more products, starting with AVs for mines and remote areas.

“We focus on autonomy “somewhere” rather than autonomy “everywhere” because that is the value today”

Gavin Jackson, CEO of Oxbotica, made his position clear.

According to Jamie Vollbracht, founding partner of Kiko Ventures, IP Group’s $450 million clean-tech investment platform, mining companies can lose millions of dollars an hour in remote areas if they can’t put a human driver in the truck, making AVs a growing number are among its viable markets. Kiko was Oxbotica’s first institutional investor.

“The magnitude of such early (AV) applications was greatly underestimated”

– believes Vollbracht.

U.S. startup Outrider announced $73 million in funding in January to scale up its self-driving trucks, which currently operate at low speeds at customer distribution yards. Construction and agricultural equipment – used in off-road, low-traffic environments – is another area of ​​growth for AV startups. These work alongside traditional heavy equipment manufacturers such as Caterpillar, Deere & Co and CNH Industrial NV, which are also investing in AV technology.

Like Oxbotica, Apex.AI designs AV software for use in a variety of vehicles, which CEO Jan Becker says caters to the needs of many non-automotive and truck customers with a wide range of applications. For example, the American agricultural equipment manufacturer AGCO uses the software of the Palo Alto, California-based startup for an experimental automated electric planter.

Meanwhile, Deere has already acquired several AV-related businesses as it moves toward autonomy, including self-driving tractor maker Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million in 2021. San Francisco-based Trucks Venture Capital already invested in Bear Flag before the sale, and the firm is actively looking for another autonomous company, according to managing partner Reilly Brennan.

Trucks Venture Capital has also invested in Teleo, which makes semi-autonomous retrofits for heavy construction and mining machinery, announcing $12 million in funding last June. Teleo’s system allows a human operator to control multiple slow-moving AVs remotely, only taking over in situations where the software can’t cope. CEO Vinay Shet believes that combining the best of AV software with the human brain has allowed Teleo to “create a real product that can be launched today and not wait another decade or two.”

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Mr.Mario
Mr.Mario
I am a tech enthusiast, cinema lover, and news follower. and i loved to be stay updated with the latest tech trends and developments. With a passion for cyber security, I continuously seeks new knowledge and enjoys learning new things.

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