BYD sold 210,295 vehicles in April—98.31 per cent more than the previous year. April sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) reached 104,364 units, while 105,103 plug-in electric vehicles (PHEV) were sold in the same period. The company wants to sell three million vehicles through 2023, implying an average of 280,000 vehicles per month for the rest of the year.
Luminar reported Q1 earnings with revenues at $14.5m, and a GAAP loss of $146m. The partner facility with Celestica in Mexico, with a capacity of 60,000 units per year, is in validation testing, and the TPK partnership in Asia will add capacity to support customers on that continent. Luminar tech is designed into more than 20 production vehicles slated for the Chinese market. Mercedes-Benz announced their plans for the Iris+ sensor across a broad range of their next generation vehicles by mid-decade.
Hesai announced a revenue of $62.6m in Q1-2023, and agross margin of 37.8 per cent. They shipped 34,834 lidar units, of which 28,195 were ADAS lidars. Hesai achieved positive Non-GAAP net income and operating cash flow. This quarter, Hesai has won new ADAS contracts, including new models from Li Auto‘s pure battery electric vehicle (BEV) platform; new models from Jidu, and various models from Seres. Hesai shipments are expected to be 40 per cent higher in Q2-2023.
Mobileye has achieved a 16-per-cent revenue growth in Q1 2023, and an operating cash flow of $171m, highlighting the continuous traction of the firm’s advanced product portfolio, with multiple SuperVision and Chauffeur programs nearing design win. The Q4-2023 launch of the Polestar 4—a SuperVision project—is expected to boost customer and regional diversification. Despite the reduction in 2023 SuperVision shipment forecast due to decreasing EV demand in China, Mobileye remains confident about the opportunities to accelerate growth.
Porsche has partnered with Mobileye, to bring hands-free automated assistance and navigation functions to future sports cars, based on Mobileye’s SuperVision technology platform. It allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel on certain types of roads, as long as they remain visually alert to take control of the vehicle as needed. Porsche says “Intelligent systems like Mobileye SuperVision technology can aid the driver in everyday situations, for example by not having to keep their hands on the wheel the entire time in traffic jams”.
Hesai has entered into a strategic partnership with autonomous truck company KargoBot to jointly promote the application of Hesai’s hybrid solid-state AT128 lidar for L4 autonomous trucks. The collaboration aims to create more intelligent commercial logistics applications. KargoBot has integrated five AT128 sensors into an autonomous truck, achieving 360-degree FOV coverage and significantly reducing blind spots.
Hesai officially inaugurated their European office in Stuttgart, Germany on 11 May. This incursion is aimed at expanding Hesai’s presence in the European market and accelerating their global strategic layout.
AEye’s ultra-long range Automated Incident Detection (AID) solution has won a Best of ITS award at ITS America. AEye partnered with MnROAD; the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and VSI Labs to test their 4Sight M lidar sensors on Interstate 94. While MnDOT currently uses cameras to obtain analytics on the flow of traffic on this corridor, the 4Sight M lidar sensor offers more precise tracking of speeds; lane positioning; number of axles, and load profiles. In addition, AEye’s AID can detect incidents up to a kilometer away.
Nuro plans additional layoffs, after last November’s round of letting go about 300 employees—20 per cent of their staff. Nuro said it would pause commercial deployments and delay production of their third-generation delivery vehicle, the R3. They will also scale back their delivery pilots, which include partnerships with Domino’s Pizza and 7-Eleven. The company said “Commercial deployments come at a significant cost; it is prudent to focus on what we can do efficiently as a startup”. Founded in 2016, Nuro is one of the few companies operating fully driverless vehicles.
Aurora Innovation aim to commercialize self-driving trucks by next year. Over the past year, they’ve launched or expanded pilot programs with FedEx; Ryder; Schneider, and Uber Freight. More recently, Aurora announced their self-driving system is “feature complete”, and they deployed the first of their “commercial-ready” autonomous shipping terminals in Palmer, Texas. The company has more than 30 trucks on the road in Texas today, hauling goods with more than 50 trips a week. To date, the trucks have travelled more than 600,000 km.
Continental and Aurora Innovation are teaming up to deliver the first commercially-scalable generation of Aurora’s proprietary integrated hardware and software system, the Aurora Driver, targeting the trucking industry. The partnership will see Continental and Aurora jointly design, develop, validate, deliver, and service the system, set to be available to carriers and commercial fleet operators across the U.S. The first production start is slated for 2027.
Bosch is joining forces with autonomous-trucking developer Plus, to commercialize software-defined trucks. Under a new technological agreement, Plus’ PlusDrive solution will be combined with Bosch’s steering system to introduce driver assistance and partially-automated features to commercial vehicles.
