Luminar

Unraveling the mystery of electric trucks’ residual values 

The regulation-driven purchase of commercial electric trucks carry a lot of unknowns. One of the biggest is their residual value, or how much they will be worth as trade-ins.

Rich Mohr, senior vice president of North America ChargePoint, said the past is a prelude for what is happening with first-generation electric trucks.

Depreciating electric trucks to scrap value

“Three years ago, the biggest risk around fleets adopting electric vehicles was the residual value and the [anticipated] life of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/unraveling-the-mystery-of-electric-trucks-residual-values

Has the lidar shakeout produced a winning combination?

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Setting aside a legal battle over patent infringement, lidar makers Ouster and Velodyne Lidar are...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/has-the-lidar-shakeout-produced-a-winning-combination

Robotic Research pulls in $228M to expand off-road autonomy business

Robotic Research, best known for its leader-follower autonomous military trucks, made it 20 years without raising outside money. Defense contracts and other pay-as-you-go customers put black ink on its balance sheet and cash in the bank.

Now it has more. The private Clarksburg, Maryland, company has completed a $228 million Series A funding round. 

Watch now: A plug-and-play approach to autonomous trucking

“We’re unique in the sense that we are probably the only company in autonomy that has always...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/robotic-research-pulls-in-228m-to-expand-off-road-autonomy-business

Who will survive the coming shakeout of lidar suppliers?

In the laser light-bouncing technology space awash with struggling startups, selling to more than autonomous vehicle makers is a popular growth strategy to survive a coming industry shakeout.  

Only one of six startups that began public life via special purpose acquisition company sponsorship in the last year is trading above the typical SPAC offering price of $10 a share. A seventh SPAC merger awaits shareholder approval and is trading close to the $10 mark.

The industry that makes...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/who-will-survive-the-coming-shakeout-of-lidar-suppliers

Truck Talk: Autonomous range-finding edition

This week we’re looking at the plethora of lidar companies chasing autonomous vehicle business; asking three questions of Torc Robotics CEO Michael Fleming; and circling the globe with new business announcements. Plus, some people, places and things. Starting next Friday, Truck Talk will be delivered by email if you subscribe at: https://www.freightwaves.com/truck-talk.

Business for all?

Lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging, is a critical element of autonomous vehicles. The...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/truck-talk:-autonomous-range-finding-edition

Torc Robotics gets help to analyze self-driving Freightliner data

Torc Robotics generates millions of gigabytes of data testing self-driving Freightliner Cascadias for Daimler Truck AG. Now it is contracting with Amazon’s cloud business for faster analysis.

Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) will manage data transfer, storage and compute capacity as Torc prepares to deploy its second generation Class 8 self-driving trucks in New Mexico and Virginia. 

The size of the fleet is growing. More data is being created. Engineering teams in the U.S. and Germany need help...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/torc-robotics-gets-help-to-analyze-self-driving-freightliner-data

Daimler partners with Luminar in autonomous truck pursuit

Daimler Truck AG is partnering with Luminar Technologies to integrate LiDAR sensing and perception software into Level 4 autonomous long-haul heavy-duty trucks. It is Daimler’s third move to acquire hardware and software expertise in driverless truck technology.

Earlier this week, Daimler announced a partnership with Alphabet’s Waymo autonomous vehicle unit to use Waymo Technology. Daimler purchased Torc Robotics, a Virginia-based automated driving technology company, in March 2019.

Daimler also...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/daimler-partners-with-luminar-in-autonomous-truck-pursuit