Alphabet Ups Self-Driving Game: Should Amazon, Baidu & Others Worry?

Autonomous driving technology, which combines semiconductors, simulation software, electronics testing equipment and measuring instruments, predictive algorithms and most importantly advancing AI, is constantly gaining steam in the data-driven world with bigwigs like Alphabet GOOGL, Amazon AMZN, Baidu BIDU, Intel INTC, and Apple AAPL taking interest in it.

Notably, Alphabet— the most popular company in the driverless vehicle space — is continuously putting strong efforts to sustain the leading position of its self-driving unit namely Waymo, which is testified by its latest move.

Waymo partnered with Transportation Research Center — the provider of independent vehicle test facility and proving grounds — in a bid to build a new advanced testing environment for Waymo Driver, its autonomous driving technology, in East Liberty, OH.

Apart from this, the company is gearing up to open its research and development facility for trucking in Menlo Park, CA, early next year. This facility will also provide accommodation for the company’s fleet of test vehicles.

With these developments, the company plans to incorporate Waymo Driver successfully not only into cars like Jaguar I-PACE but also Class 8 trucks. This, in turn, is likely to bolster Waymo’s growing initiatives being made for its autonomous truck fleet.

We believe that the latest move poises Alphabet well to further capitalize on the growth prospects present in the booming self-driving space.

According to a report by Grand View Research, the demand for autonomous vehicles on a global basis in 2020 is projected at 6.7 thousand units. Further, the figure is expected to witness a CAGR of 63.1% between 2021 and 2030.

 

 

Alphabet Ups the Game

Alphabet, with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), takes the driverless technology and vehicle game to another level, intensifying the competition among the above-mentioned players who are also leaving no stone unturned to expand their presence in the autonomous driving market.

Nevertheless, Waymo’s aggressive stance is expected to help the company in staying ahead of the pack. Apart from the latest move, the company recently relaunched its robo-taxi ride-hailing service, with no human attendant, in Phoenix, AZ.

Further, Waymo plans to start the road testing of its driverless fleet of trucks in a new hub in Dallas, TX. Notably, the company’s driverless robotic Peterbilt 579 trucks will be tested initially.

Furthermore, its Volvo partnership to develop self-driving electric vehicles for ride-hailing services remains a major positive.

Additionally, the Latent Logic buyout remains noteworthy, which is making the simulation technology of Waymo more advanced and realistic. This, in turn, will likely strengthen the behavior prediction capability of Waymo.

Should Intel, Apple, Amazon & Baidu Worry?

Alphabet on the back of its growing Waymo initiatives poses a serious challenge to Intel, Apple and Amazon.

However, concerted efforts being made by these companies in the self-driving space should not be ignored.

Intel is gaining on partnerships of its self-driving unit, Mobileye.

Recently, Luminar Technologies teamed up with Mobileye to develop self-driving vehicles. Notably, the former’s lidar will be utilized for the latter’s first-generation Level 4 Mobility-as-a-Service pilot and driverless fleet.

Apart from this, Mobileye is gathering steam to hit the streets of Dubai by 2022 on the heels of its multi-million dollar partnership with Al Habtoor Group. Per the terms of the deal, the Mobileye system will be deployed into a fleet of 1000 automotive robo-taxis.

Further, Intel is strongly benefiting from the low power consumption of Mobileye chips and the ability to create maps for self-driving systems via its Road Experience Management platform.

Amazon on the other hand agreed to acquire Zoox, a developer of self-driving technology. This remains a major positive for the company in the autonomous driving space. Further, this Zacks Rank #3 company’s investment in Aurora, a startup that develops technology to power fully-autonomous vehicles, remains noteworthy.

Meanwhile, Apple, with a Zacks Rank #3, remains well-poised to reap benefits from the promising self-driving technology space on the back of its Drive.ai buyout. The solid database of Drive.ai related to road conditions, signals and traffic is helping Apple in innovating the software for driverless vehicles.

Additionally, Baidu, which currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), is benefiting from the expansion of Apollo Go Robotaxi service that covers almost 700 kilometers across China, and features about 100 pick-up and drop-off stations across several residential as well as business areas.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Further, the company recently showcased its Fully Automated Driving — a technology which makes vehicles self-drive eligible without the presence of a safety driver, at its annual tech event namely Baidu World 2020.

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