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Meet the Key Players From the Red-Hot Self-Driving Space
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The race to get self-driving vehicles mainstream has been accelerating of late, with auto and tech giants racing toward automated mobility. Last Friday, Chinese self-driving startup, Momenta, announced that it raised $500 million from Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor, Japan-based car giant, Toyota (TM - Free Report) , and auto components supplier, Bosch. Momenta is working with various automakers to offer advanced technologies like automated HD mapping and other similar functions to assist in the driverless revolution. Toyota currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Various tech and auto firms are injecting billions of dollars into autonomous driving technology over the past couple of years. With that, the idea of robotic vehicles seems much less far-fetched today. China-based driverless startup, Pony.ai, has raised more than $1 billion since its last funding round in November 2020, including a major chunk from Toyota itself. Currently valued at more than $5.3 billion, Pony.ai has collaborations with various automakers and suppliers, including Hyundai, Toyota, FAW Group and Bosch. In addition to the investments in Pony.ai and Momenta, Toyota has boosted its autonomous prospects by collaborating with self-driving car startup, Aurora, to build driverless minivans for ride-hailing networks.
General Motors acquired Cruise Automation in 2016 in a bid to launch driverless cars as part of its ride-sharing fleets. Last year, General Motors unveiled its Origin driverless electric shuttle, which has no steering wheel, pedals or other manual controls.Recently, Cruise teamed up with Microsoft to help accelerate its research. Last week, it was announced that Cruise is set to acquire Voyage — a self-driving startup — in a bid to further rev up its AV game. Cruise is highly optimistic about utilizing the unique advantages possessed by Voyage to deliver the safest and most affordable transportation solution for everyone.
Ford’s commitment to spend $7 billion in AVs through 2025 is noteworthy. It plans to roll out its self-driving commercial business in 2022 with vehicles based on the Ford Escape Hybrid crossover. The vehicles are based on the automaker’s fourth-generation autonomous technology in partnership with Argo AI, a Pittsburgh-based autonomous vehicle start-up.With ample financial and engineering resources, Argo AI’s efforts to make automated driving a reality are likely to come to fruition.
Alphabet-owned self-driving car company, Waymo, is still the one to beat. Waymo, which began its autonomous mobility journey in 2009, has logged 20 million test miles on public roads in 25 different cities. In 2019, Waymo acquired Latent Logic to speed up its progress in driverless technology. Last October,Waymo and Daimler Trucks partnered to create an autonomous version of the Freightliner Cascadia truck. Waymo grabbed big headlines as it launched a fully driverless robotaxi service sans human attendant in Phoenix last fall.
Tech giant Apple plans to release its driverless cars in the market by 2024. The car will be equipped with an in-house battery, which will reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle's range. Apple had acquired autonomous vehicle startup Drive.ai in 2019, underscoring its interest in driverless technology.
Retail tech giant Amazon forayed into the AV space with the Zoox buyout in 2020. Late last year, Zoox unveiled its first self-driving robotaxi, which does not have any steering wheel and has space for up to four passengers. It can run up to 16 hours on a single charge and can travel approximately 75 miles per hour.
How can we miss China-based search engine giant, Baidu, while talking about AVs? With a fleet of more than 300 level 4 vehicles, Baidu — which uses the Apollo operating platform — is the leading AV developer in China, with robotaxi pilot operations in multiple cities across the country. Its autonomous driving tests have logged more than 3 million kilometers on roads across 23 cities in China.
Other auto supermajors, including Honda, Nissan, Daimler AG and BMW AG, and Volvo, are also ramping up efforts to gain market share in the autonomous driving space. The race to AV supremacy will only get fiercer in the coming years. Per a report by Million Insights, the global autonomous vehicle market demand is projected to account for 4.2 million units by the end of 2030, witnessing a CAGR of more than 63% during the forecast period. Additionally, per a report by Research and Markets, the global autonomous vehicle market is estimated to be worth $2,044.9 billion by 2030, witnessing a CAGR of 39.1% from 2020 to 2030. Enhanced neural networking capabilities and advancements in digital mapping and obstacle-recognition functionalities are expected to lead to safer navigation, a reduction in accidents and commuter comfort.
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Meet the Key Players From the Red-Hot Self-Driving Space
The race to get self-driving vehicles mainstream has been accelerating of late, with auto and tech giants racing toward automated mobility. Last Friday, Chinese self-driving startup, Momenta, announced that it raised $500 million from Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor, Japan-based car giant, Toyota (TM - Free Report) , and auto components supplier, Bosch. Momenta is working with various automakers to offer advanced technologies like automated HD mapping and other similar functions to assist in the driverless revolution. Toyota currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Various tech and auto firms are injecting billions of dollars into autonomous driving technology over the past couple of years. With that, the idea of robotic vehicles seems much less far-fetched today. China-based driverless startup, Pony.ai, has raised more than $1 billion since its last funding round in November 2020, including a major chunk from Toyota itself. Currently valued at more than $5.3 billion, Pony.ai has collaborations with various automakers and suppliers, including Hyundai, Toyota, FAW Group and Bosch. In addition to the investments in Pony.ai and Momenta, Toyota has boosted its autonomous prospects by collaborating with self-driving car startup, Aurora, to build driverless minivans for ride-hailing networks.
Auto bigwigs, including General Motors (GM - Free Report) and Ford (F - Free Report) , along with tech titans like Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , Apple (AAPL - Free Report) , Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) and Baidu (BIDU - Free Report) are also making considerable strides in the autonomous vehicle (AV) revolution.
General Motors acquired Cruise Automation in 2016 in a bid to launch driverless cars as part of its ride-sharing fleets. Last year, General Motors unveiled its Origin driverless electric shuttle, which has no steering wheel, pedals or other manual controls.Recently, Cruise teamed up with Microsoft to help accelerate its research. Last week, it was announced that Cruise is set to acquire Voyage — a self-driving startup — in a bid to further rev up its AV game. Cruise is highly optimistic about utilizing the unique advantages possessed by Voyage to deliver the safest and most affordable transportation solution for everyone.
Ford’s commitment to spend $7 billion in AVs through 2025 is noteworthy. It plans to roll out its self-driving commercial business in 2022 with vehicles based on the Ford Escape Hybrid crossover. The vehicles are based on the automaker’s fourth-generation autonomous technology in partnership with Argo AI, a Pittsburgh-based autonomous vehicle start-up.With ample financial and engineering resources, Argo AI’s efforts to make automated driving a reality are likely to come to fruition.
Alphabet-owned self-driving car company, Waymo, is still the one to beat. Waymo, which began its autonomous mobility journey in 2009, has logged 20 million test miles on public roads in 25 different cities. In 2019, Waymo acquired Latent Logic to speed up its progress in driverless technology. Last October,Waymo and Daimler Trucks partnered to create an autonomous version of the Freightliner Cascadia truck. Waymo grabbed big headlines as it launched a fully driverless robotaxi service sans human attendant in Phoenix last fall.
Tech giant Apple plans to release its driverless cars in the market by 2024. The car will be equipped with an in-house battery, which will reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle's range. Apple had acquired autonomous vehicle startup Drive.ai in 2019, underscoring its interest in driverless technology.
Retail tech giant Amazon forayed into the AV space with the Zoox buyout in 2020. Late last year, Zoox unveiled its first self-driving robotaxi, which does not have any steering wheel and has space for up to four passengers. It can run up to 16 hours on a single charge and can travel approximately 75 miles per hour.
How can we miss China-based search engine giant, Baidu, while talking about AVs? With a fleet of more than 300 level 4 vehicles, Baidu — which uses the Apollo operating platform — is the leading AV developer in China, with robotaxi pilot operations in multiple cities across the country. Its autonomous driving tests have logged more than 3 million kilometers on roads across 23 cities in China.
Other auto supermajors, including Honda, Nissan, Daimler AG and BMW AG, and Volvo, are also ramping up efforts to gain market share in the autonomous driving space. The race to AV supremacy will only get fiercer in the coming years. Per a report by Million Insights, the global autonomous vehicle market demand is projected to account for 4.2 million units by the end of 2030, witnessing a CAGR of more than 63% during the forecast period. Additionally, per a report by Research and Markets, the global autonomous vehicle market is estimated to be worth $2,044.9 billion by 2030, witnessing a CAGR of 39.1% from 2020 to 2030. Enhanced neural networking capabilities and advancements in digital mapping and obstacle-recognition functionalities are expected to lead to safer navigation, a reduction in accidents and commuter comfort.
Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021
In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 best buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2021?
Last year's 2020Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +386.8%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.
AccessZacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021 today >>