Autonomous Vehicles

Apple is in talks to acqui-hire the team of a well-known self-driving vehicle startup, Drive.ai, according to The Information. The company has raised $77M and was last valued around $200M. In our view, Apple is not after brand or even…

Lyft reported first-quarter 2019 earnings in their first-ever report as a public company with overall positive results. Our takeaways: Steady growth of user metrics Lyft’s active riders grew 46% y/y to 20.5M, average revenue per rider grew 34% to $38,…

Tesla reported first-quarter 2019 results. Here are the incremental changes: The company gave strong indications that they will raise money in the coming months. We believe raising money (debt or equity) would effectively de-risk the story, given the company’s current…

We left Tesla’s Autonomy Investor Day feeling more optimistic about the company’s long-term prospects. Our takeaways from the event: We are more comfortable with Tesla’s camera-based (non-LiDAR) approach to autonomy. If correct, this approach could actually be preferred (safer, more…

This piece marks the first in a quarterly series to track the progress of frontier tech, as measured by the Loup Frontier Tech Index. The index tracks the performance of publicly-traded companies that influence the future of technology including AI,…

Tesla recently published “An Update to Our Vehicle Lineup” on the company blog, making several tweaks to the Model 3 product line. Tesla is embracing the characteristics of blitzscaling — a net positive for the company. Autopilot will now come…

AT&T recently rolled out a limited 5G Evolution (5GE) network in Minneapolis in combination with its sponsorship of the Final Four. We tested the network and found only modest improvements in network speeds. Given AT&T’s 5GE marketing hype, we’re disappointed…

On Friday, Lyft became the first ridesharing company to go public. By beating Uber to go public, Lyft will, to some extent, control the narrative around the US ridesharing market. That narrative will be centered around big ideas like ending…

The Loup Frontier Tech Index tracks the performance of publicly-traded companies that influence the future of technology including AI, robotics, autonomous vehicles, computer perception, and virtual and augmented reality. We will be publishing periodic pieces, to highlight specific companies in…

The 5G hype has already begun, but investors underappreciate the opportunity that it represents for most tech companies. Apple has four initiatives that will materially benefit from 5G: iPhone, augmented reality, healthcare, and autonomous vehicles. In our view, Apple will…

Tesla reported Dec-18 mixed results, beating revenue but missing earnings. Shares are down 4% after hours, reacting mostly to news of CFO Deepak Ahuja leaving the company. Bottom line: the company’s fundamentals are trending in the right direction, and the list…

Believers in the Tesla story are accustomed to having their faith tested. Last week’s 7% headcount reduction, what appears to be an upcoming revenue and earnings guide down for Mar-19, and pending $920M debt payment due in March emphasize that point.…