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☆ Warren Buffett-backed BYD announces new shock absorption tech for premium EVs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

BYD's Han electric car, pictured here at the 2021 Shanghai auto show, is one of the most popular new energy vehicles in China. SHENZHEN, China — Electric vehicle giant BYD is banking on new driver-assist technology to smooth out car rides and get the edge on its EV competition. BYD, backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway , announced Monday a new technological system for stabilizing car rides through rugged terrain, sharp turns and even shallow water. The shock absorption tech is set to be a feature of the company's recently launched premium brand Yangwang. Part of the tech system uses the same "lidar" sensors used in assisted driving, according to BYD.

☆ Elon Musk's self-driving car project is on a road to nowhere
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Elon Musk has made developing autonomous driving technology one of Tesla's fundamental goals. "Today it's financially insane to buy anything other than a Tesla," Musk said at an event touting the carmaker's autonomous-vehicle development in 2019. That revolutionary software update never came, and by 2022 the goalpost for bringing self-driving cars to the masses had shifted to 2023. Full Self-Driving is far from actually being self-driving, some sayDespite its branding, Tesla's Full Self-Driving Beta currently requires total driver supervision, just like cruise control or smarter features like Autopilot. Likewise, McGehee says self-driving cars need a combination of overlapping sensors — whether that's cameras, radar, lidar, or ultrasonic sensors — to move through the world safely.

☆ Luminar CFO defends lidar maker's pricing and revenue in the wake of a Goldman downgrade
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A Mercedes-Benz van retrofitted with different types of lidar systems, including Luminar's Iris, to showcase the differences in the technologies. Lidar maker Luminar Technologies , stung by a recent Wall Street downgrade, is responding in an unusual way: taking its case directly to the shareholders. "We continue to see Luminar as one of a handful of leaders in the very competitive lidar industry," Delaney wrote. "'Premium pricing' isn't a theoretical concept we are forecasting, but an achievement we have already made in our major customer contracts," Fennimore wrote in the shareholder letter. And the second point Fennimore says Goldman missed: The time frame Delaney chose to compare Luminar's valuation against those of its rivals.

☆ Lidar maker Ouster dips as quarterly losses widen, but CEO sees savings in Velodyne merger
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

To honor the occasion, Ouster CEO Angus Pacala, joined by Chris Taylor, Vice President, NYSE Listings and Services, rings The Opening Bell®. Lidar maker Ouster said on Thursday that it remains on track to realize more than $75 million in annual cost savings by the end of 2023, following its merger with rival Velodyne in February. For its fourth quarter, which reflects Ouster's results before the merger with Velodyne was completed, the company reported a loss of 23 cents per share on revenue of $11 million. For the full year, Ouster reported $41 million in revenue with a 27% gross margin, in line with its previous guidance to investors. As of year-end, Ouster and Velodyne had a combined cash balance of about $315 million.

☆ Goldman Sachs says this self-driving car software stock could fall 35%
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Luminar Technologies shares are too expensive at current valuations and could fall 35%, Goldman Sachs said. Luminar shares outperformed this year as investors moved back into riskier assets. However, the analyst says Luminar shares now have downside after that run-up. Delaney's $5 price target means shares could fall 35% from Tuesday's close. Luminar shares were down more than 8% in Wednesday premarket trading.

☆ Tesla reportedly saw an uptick in crashes and mistakes after Elon Musk removed radar from its cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In the past, Elon Musk has spoken out against LiDAR, another type of self-driving sensor. Before 2021, the electric-car maker used radar sensors in addition to cameras to help the vehicles identify obstacles. Workers at Tesla train the cars to identify and respond to different obstacles by labeling footage that is taken by the car's cameras. Other self-driving sensors like LiDAR technology are popular with Tesla's self-driving rivals. In the past, Musk has said LiDAR is "doomed" and too costly.

☆ Here are Tuesday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Amazon, Arista, Costco, Joby, Netflix & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Here are Tuesday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Northcoast upgrades Costco to buy from hold Northcoast said it sees more upside for the wholesale retailer. " Goldman Sachs initiates Arista Networks and Juniper as buy Goldman initiated several networking equipment stocks, noting they are attractively valued. Deutsche Bank downgrades Joby to sell from hold Deutsche said it sees too many risks for the aviation company. Morgan Stanley reiterates Walmart as overweight Morgan Stanley said its standing by shares of Walmart as the retail giant continues to sign up new members for its Walmart+. Loop reiterates Netflix as hold Loop said its survey checks show that password sharing charging is increasing revenue for Netflix.

☆ Morgan Stanley says this EV-adjacent stock can rally nearly 40% as adoption in China accelerates
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Hesai can outshine peers with its laser imaging, detection and ranging technology for electric vehicles, Morgan Stanley said. Analyst Tim Hsiao rated the stock overweight with a price target of $26.50. Hsiao's price target implies an upside of 39.5% from Monday's close. "We think Hesai outshines peers, with its superior scale and margin, and its strong project pipeline." The company also has a strong project pipeline that includes partnerships with established automakers such as Li Auto and SAIC and newer entrants including Jidu and Xiaomi .

☆ Elon Musk has promised self-driving Teslas for years. Experts say it's not even close.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

☆ Nikola will offer a driver-assist system for its trucks starting next year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Nikola will begin offering an advanced driver-assist system on its electric heavy trucks starting late next year, the company said Wednesday. But a Nikola representative told CNBC the system as it will be integrated into the company's semitrucks is designed to be an "eyes-on-road, hands-on-wheel" system. Plus already provides the PlusDrive system to Italian heavy-truck maker Iveco, a longtime Nikola partner. Nikola said that several of its fleet customers, including PGT Trucking and Christenson Transportation, have agreed to test prototype PlusDrive-enabled Nikola semitrucks. Clarification: Plus's advanced driver-assist system as integrated into Nikola's semitrucks is designed to be an "eyes-on-road, hands-on-wheel" system, according to a company representative.

☆ Lidar maker Luminar announces 'multibillion dollar' expansion of its deal with Mercedes-Benz
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Lidar maker Luminar said Wednesday that Mercedes-Benz will incorporate its sensors and software in a "broad range" of vehicles starting mid-decade, in a significant expansion of an ongoing partnership between the two companies. Under the expanded deal, Mercedes-Benz will incorporate the next version of Luminar's Iris lidar into an upcoming partially automated driving system that will be made available on many future Mercedes models. The deal builds on one announced by the two companies in January 2022, in which Mercedes-Benz said it would incorporate Luminar lidar in upcoming high-end models. Luminar didn't disclose the expected production volumes, but the company did describe it as a "multibillion dollar" expansion of the earlier deal, and a Luminar spokesperson told CNBC that this new deal is "more than an order of magnitude bigger" than last year's deal with Mercedes-Benz. Luminar will unveil the next-generation version of its Iris lidar system when it reports its fourth-quarter and full-year results on Tuesday.

☆ Nikola will offer a hands-free highway driving system for its trucks starting next year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Nikola will begin offering an advanced driver-assist system on its electric heavy trucks starting late next year, the company said Wednesday. Plus already provides the PlusDrive system to Italian heavy-truck maker Iveco, a longtime Nikola partner. Iveco began testing its own PlusDrive-enabled trucks earlier this month. Nikola said that several of its fleet customers, including PGT Trucking and Christenson Transportation, have agreed to test prototype PlusDrive-enabled Nikola semitrucks. The company expects to begin offering PlusDrive on its regular production battery-electric and fuel cell trucks by the end of 2024.

☆ Lidar makers Ouster and Velodyne complete their merger, creating a sector powerhouse
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Lidar makers Ouster and Velodyne said on Monday that they have successfully completed a "merger of equals," creating a lidar powerhouse. The combined company will have more than 850 current customers, a deep portfolio of patents and about $315 million in cash on hand, based on year-end figures. Those developments helped set the stage for consolidation in the lidar space, Ouster CEO Angus Pacala said when the deal was first announced. Pacala, who will lead the combined company, told CNBC in an interview on Monday that the merger is "a major step toward profitability for Ouster." Velodyne's CEO, Ted Tewksbury, will chair the combined company's board of directors, and its chief financial officer, Mark Weinswig, will retain that role with Ouster, while Ouster co-founder Mark Frichtl will serve as the combined company's chief technology officer.

The company sold 10 million American depository receipts (ADRs) at $19 apiece, according to its regulatory filings, and shares closed at $21.05. The deal is the biggest from a Chinese company selling shares in New York since LianBio (LIAN.O) raised $334 million in October 2021, according to Refinitiv data. Chinese company listings in the United States ground to a halt in 2021 after the debut of ride hailing giant Didi Global Inc (92Sy.MU) in June of that year. As a result, Chinese listings in the United States dwindled and mainland regulators also moved to draw up new guidelines governing companies selling shares overseas. Chinese companies raised nearly $230 million in U.S. listings in 2022, according to Refinitiv data, representing a massive drop from $12.85 billion a year earlier.

☆ Chinese IPOs are coming back to the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A handful of Chinese companies are starting to list again in the U.S.BEIJING — Chinese startups are raising millions of dollars in U.S. stock market listings again, after a dry spell in the once-hot market. The company raised $190 million in its initial public offering, more than initial plans — and one of the largest listings since ride-hailing giant Didi raised $4.4 billion in its June 2021 IPO. That listing ran afoul of Chinese regulators, who ordered a cybersecurity review into Didi just days after its public listing. As of the end of 2022, only six China-based companies had issued American depositary receipts in U.S. IPOs since the Didi fallout, according to Wind Information. But the dry spell in Chinese IPOs in the U.S. is starting to end as firms get more regulatory clarity.

☆ Chinese lidar maker Hesai to raise up to $171 million in U.S. IPO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

A lidar sensor from Hesai company on top of a vehicle in Shenzhen, China on Jul. China's Hesai Group on Friday announced plans to raise as much as $171 million in an initial public offering in the United States, according to a term sheet. The Shanghai-based lidar maker will offer up to 9 million American depositary shares (ADS) at between $17 and $19 apiece. To date, Hesai has raised over $500 million, according to the company's website. Hesai's IPO is the first major offering by a Chinese firm since the country scrapped most of its Covid curbs and reopened its borders.

☆ Mercedes-Benz's new self-driving tech is turning up the heat on Tesla at the worst possible time
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Its Drive Pilot feature allows drivers to not pay attention to the road in certain situations. Drive Pilot is a "really big deal," Bryant Walker-Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who specializes in autonomous vehicles, told Insider. But at one level higher, Mercedes' Drive Pilot allows a driver's attention to wander to other tasks in certain situations. There are some caveats: When Drive Pilot hits roads later in 2023, it will only work on certain freeways in Nevada and only at speeds under 40 mph. Still, Drive Pilot isn't sparking a revolution in the way people drive — or don't — just yet.

☆ Mercedes is the first automaker to deploy actual
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Mercedes’ Drive Pilot system is designed to work on highways in dense traffic at speeds of less than 40 miles per hour. The Mercedes system is considered Level 3 Automation, as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Even Tesla’s Autopilot and so-called “Full Self-Driving” technologies require that the driver pay attention to the road outside the car at all times. Among other technologies, the Mercedes system relies on lidar, which is similar to radar but uses laser light, rather than radio waves, to detect objects in its surroundings. The Mercedes system also uses a rear-facing a camera in the back window, a microphone to listen for emergency vehicles and road wetness sensors inside the wheel well.

☆ Tackling the threat of mudslides in soaked California
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Matt Udkow / Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP fileWhy is California prone to mudslides? Since New Year’s Eve, the California Department of Conservation’s landslide mapping team has documented more than 300 landslides. Lancaster said California has dramatically increased its efforts to identify hotspots since the Montecito mudslides. After the 2018 mudslides hit Montecito, the Los Angeles Times reported that debris basins above the community were undersized and hadn’t been sufficiently emptied. The organization hired an engineering company to map the canyons and installed debris nets.

☆ Ancient Maya cities, 'super highways' revealed in latest survey
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It is the latest discovery of roughly 3,000-year-old Maya centers and related infrastructure, according to a statement on Monday from a team from Guatemala's FARES anthropological research foundation overseeing the so-called LiDAR studies. All of the newly-identified structures were built centuries before the largest Maya city-states emerged, ushering in major human achievements in math and writing. LiDAR technology uses planes to shoot pulses of light into dense forest, allowing researchers to peel away vegetation and map ancient structures below. Among the details revealed in the latest analysis are the ancient world's first-ever extensive system of stone "highways or super-highways," according to the researchers. Reporting by Sofia Menchu and David Alire Garcia, editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A Tesla driver took a 6,392-mile road trip using Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software — there were some hiccups
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tesla driver Tim Heckman drove 6,392 miles primarily using Autopilot and Full Self-Driving. He said Autopilot has gotten "worse" over the years and FSD was "exceptionally poor outside of California." But, the Tesla driver said the software has been a "lifesaver" when it comes to long road trips. In December, Tim Heckman drove a Model S Plaid from Los Angeles to Pennsylvania and back, using the autonomous software for 99% of the journey, an experience he documented on Twitter. "It's kind of like driving with a 15 or 16-year-old driver sometimes," Heckman said of using FSD in city streets outside of California.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Silvergate Capital, Walgreens, Amazon and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

People walk by a Walgreens, owned by the Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., in New York City, November 26, 2021. Check out the companies making headlines and moves in premarket trading. Walgreens Boots Alliance — The drugstore stock fell about 2% in premarket even after the company reported fiscal first quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates. Western Digital — Shares jumped more than 5% after Western Digital and Japan's Kioxia Holdings resumed merger talks, according to a Bloomberg News report that cited sources familiar with the matter. American Express — The stock fell 1.48% in the premarket after being downgraded by Stephens on Thursday to underweight from equal weight.

☆ Continental partners with AI chip firm Ambarella on autonomous driving
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Germany's Continental (CONG.DE) and California-based artificial intelligence chip firm Ambarella (AMBA.O) announced a partnership on Thursday to make software and hardware systems for autonomous driving. The two companies will focus on so-called Level 2 plus autonomous driving, which briefly allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel through features like assisted cruise control and lane centering. Ambarella develops a new category of semiconductors called system on a chip, or SoC, which combine multiple CPUs on one logic board and provide artificial intelligence processing. The two firms jointly develop the technology, which will comprise of high-resolution cameras and radar and lidar senses with the necessary software from Continental, the statement said. The German auto supplier also holds a minority stake in another California-based firm, lidar startup AEye, and has integrated a long-range lidar sensor based on AEye's patents to complement the auto supplier's existing short-range lidar technology.

☆ Roborock Is Building a Customer-First Brand of Robot Vacuums
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Roborock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"I never intended to create a robot of my own," Richard Chang, Roborock founder and CEO, said. Kickstarting an entrepreneurial journeyRoborockToday, Beijing-based Roborock is among the biggest robot vacuum manufacturers in the world. RoborockThe result was the launch in 2016 of the first Roborock robot vacuum cleaner the Mi Home Robot Vacuum Cleaner. Since then, Roborock has produced a steady stream of models that have continued to set the standard in robot vacuum technology, culminating in the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra, which was featured on Time magazine's Best Inventions of 2022. It also allows users to operate their robot vacuum overnight, in complete darkness.

☆ Lasers revealed 5 ancient civilizations that were hiding in plain sight
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Archeologists beam lasers from the sky to unearth ancient settlements hiding in plain sight. State-of-the-art laser technology is transforming archaeology by creating 3D renderings of ruins. A hidden 2,000-year-old Mayan civilization in northern GuatemalaResearchers found a 2,000-year-old Mayan civilization in northern Guatemala using LiDAR. 61,000 previously unknown structures hidden under the dense Guatemalan jungleLiDAR laser technology found ancient cities with more than 60,000 structures in Guatemala. An overgrown ancient civilization buried in the Bolivian AmazonA LiDAR image of an ancient Amazonian urban network in what is now Bolivia.

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