Connect with us

Finance

Deeproute claims ‘deep cooperation’ with Nvidia on driver assist

Published

on

A car with autonomous driving system by Alibaba-backed DeepRoute.ai, drives on a street in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China July 27, 2022. 

David Kirton | Reuters

BEIJING — Deeproute.ai, a Chinese startup developing autonomous driving systems, announced a $100 million funding round Tuesday from an undisclosed automaker, while emphasizing close ties with chipmaker Nvidia.

Pitchbook data showed Chinese company Great Wall Motor led the investment.

It’s been difficult to obtain financing, especially from a non-government source, Maxwell Zhou, CEO of DeepRoute.ai, told reporters Tuesday in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.

The startup is also in “deep cooperation” with Nvidia, Zhou said, noting “in-depth discussions” with the chipmaker’s CEO Jensen Huang.

Zhou spoke on “Commercializing mass-produced autonomous driving solutions” at Nvidia’s closely watched GTC AI conference in March.

Waymo will lead autonomous driving, not Tesla: Harvest's Paul Meeks

Shenzhen-based Deeproute said it uses Nvidia’s Orin chip for its current driver-assist system.

The startup added it is part of the first batch of companies in China to obtain Nvidia’s newer Thor chip for cars and will release a new system using it next year that can use more visual cues to manage more complex driving scenarios.

“Lots of companies in China are competing on autonomous driving. It is actually a competition over AI,” Zhou said.

In terms of AI computing power, Deeproute said it has its own capacity, and can tap Alibaba‘s if needed. The e-commerce and cloud computing company led a $300 million investment round in Deeproute in 2021, giving it a valuation of more than $1 billion just two years after it was founded in 2019, according to the startup.

The U.S. in October 2022 imposed sweeping restrictions on China’s ability to access the most advanced semiconductors from Nvidia and other American companies. Automotive chips don’t currently fall in that category.

Nvidia is scheduled to release earnings for the quarter ended Oct. 27 on Nov. 20. For the quarter ended July 28, the chipmaker said its automotive segment saw revenue rise by 37% year-on-year to $345 million.

Eyes on Japan

Deeproute currently works with Chinese automakers selling in China. The company expects at least three car models using its driver-assist system will hit the road this year.

Already, Deeproute’s systems are running in more than 20,000 cars on the road, Zhou said. He expects that number to increase, potentially by ten-fold, next year.

The startup, which has an office in California, said it is looking to work with foreign automakers and plans to participate in Japan’s auto show next year.

Tesla competition

Deeproute has focused on using artificial intelligence to automatically drive cars, without relying on “high-definition maps.” That allows a vehicle to use driver assist tech on roads where those technical parameters haven’t been created.

It’s a trend car tech companies such as Xpeng and Huawei are pursuing — and Tesla‘s strategy for developing autonomous driving. Elon Musk’s car company has focused on using cameras and artificial intelligence to steer the vehicle, without heavy reliance on HD maps.

Those maps, used by autonomous driving companies such as Alphabet‘s Waymo, give a car a detailed picture of city streets. But they need to be created before a car runs on the road, a process that can drive up costs.

Zhou said the company is very eager for Tesla’s driver-assist product — called “Full Self-Driving” — to enter China. His reasoning is that Tesla’s product will encourage more consumers to become more interested in driver-assist features — and boost Deeproute’s prominence in the sector.

When asked about IPO plans, Zhou said the startup would keep to its own development pace, but it welcomed the latest public offerings of other industry players.

Chinese autonomous driving software developer WeRide went public on the Nasdaq last month, while robotaxi operator Pony.ai has filed for a U.S. IPO.

Industry focus on driver-assist

Companies in China’s autos industry are increasingly looking at driver-assist tech as a way to stay competitive in the market.

Pony.ai announced Saturday an agreement to cooperate on mass-development of fully autonomous robotaxis with state-owned Beijing Automotive Group’s new energy vehicle subsidiary.

Tencent on Monday announced it extended its strategic cooperation with German autos supplier Bosch to work on autonomous driving and tech-enabled cockpits. The two companies first agreed to strategic cooperation in 2020.

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that Deeproute was part of the first batch of companies in China to obtain Nvidia’s new Thor chip for cars.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Finance

GAP, NTAP, INTU and more

Published

on

Continue Reading

Finance

gold etf optimism 20 years later

Published

on

20 years of the revolutionary GLD ETF

The founder of the first gold-tracking ETF is still bullish on the commodity two decades later.

“Things are looking good for the rest of this year and for next year,” George Milling-Stanley told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week.

The State Street chief gold strategist highlighted demand from both central banks and individual investors in emerging markets, such as India and China, as major tailwinds for the precious metal.

Even the postelection pullback in gold futures and the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) hasn’t tarnished the record run this year.

Since the Nov. 5 election, “investors have gone gung-ho on risk-on assets,” Milling-Stanley said. “This is why we’ve seen the stock market go up dramatically, why we’ve seen the cryptocurrencies go up dramatically.”

But the precious metal, and in turn, the GLD ETF, are “starting to claw back some of the lost ground,” Milling-Stanley said.

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

hide content

GLD chart since inception

The launch of the GLD ETF changed the game for commodity ownership when it launched 20 years ago. 

Since then, investment in gold has shifted away from jewelry and into bullion and ETFs as demand for the precious metal has jumped. Milling-Stanley describes the increased investor demand as a “huge change” to the commodity investment landscape — and to portfolio management as a whole.

Todd Sohn, ETF and technical strategist at Strategas, says GLD brought more investors into gold because of the broader access ETFs can offer.

“No matter what your end game is, GLD allowed you to add something to your portfolio besides an equity and a fixed income instrument, so you can get diversification,” said Sohn.

Since its inception, GLD is up 451%. It is up 29% in 2024. 

Disclaimer

Continue Reading

Finance

Citadel’s Ken Griffin says Trump’s tariffs could lead to crony capitalism

Published

on

Ken Griffin, chief executive officer and founder of Citadel Advisors LLC, speaks during an Economic Club of New York event in New York, US, on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024.

Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Citadel CEO Ken Griffin issued a warning against the steep tariffs President-elect Donald Trump vowed to implement, saying crony capitalism could be a consequence.

“I am gravely concerned that the rise of tariffs puts us on a slippery slope towards crony capitalism,” the billionaire investor said Thursday at the Economic Club of New York.

The Citadel founder thinks domestic companies could enjoy a short-term benefit of having their competitors taken away. Longer term, however, it does more harm to corporate America and the economy as companies lose competitiveness and productivity.

Crony capitalism is an economic system marked by close, mutually advantageous relationships between business leaders and government officials.

“Those same companies that enjoy that momentary sugar rush of having their competitors removed from the battlefield, soon become complacent, soon take for granted their newfound economic superiority, and frankly, they become less competitive on both the world stage and less competitive at meeting the needs of the American consumer,” Griffin said at the event.

Trump made universal tariffs a core tenet of his economic campaign pitch, floating a 20% levy on all imports from all countries with a specifically harsh 60% rate for Chinese goods.

The protectionist trade policy could make production of goods more expensive and raise consumer prices, just as the world recovers from pandemic-era inflation spikes.

“Now you’re going to find the halls of Washington really filled with the special interest groups and the lobbyists as people look for continued higher and higher tariffs to keep away foreign competition, and to protect inefficient American businesses have failed to meet the needs of the American consumer,” Griffin said.

At the same event, Griffin also said that he’s not focused on taking Citadel Securities public in the foreseeable future. Citadel is a market maker founded by Griffin in 2002.

“We’re focused on building the business, on investing in our future. And we do believe that there are benefits to being private during this period of very, very rapid growth,” he said.

Continue Reading

Trending