4 Trending Autonomous Vehicle Stocks To Watch Today
Could autonomous vehicle (AV) stocks be the next groundbreaking industry in the stock market? Well, there are reasons to believe so when you have some of the biggest tech companies in the world trying to get into the scene. We have Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) showing commitment to the vehicle industry with reports of Kevin Lynch being moved to the “Apple Car” team. For those who wonder who Kevin is, he is Apple’s Vice President of technology and is known for his work with Apple Watch. It is no secret that Apple has been trying to tap into the AV industry for the past few years.
On another hand, you also have Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) introducing an option for its customers to subscribe to its advanced driver assistance software. Instead of paying $10,000 upfront, you could now subscribe to its “Full Self-Driving capability” software for $199 a month. So, people who were skeptical about the service but want to have a go at it can now experience it themselves. With all these in mind, it is no wonder why investors are paying close attention to the industry. That said, we are still in the early stages of the AV industry. Now, let us take a look at four of the top autonomous vehicle stocks in the stock market now.
Best Autonomous Vehicle Stock To Buy [Or Sell] This Week
- NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA)
- Luminar Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: LAZR)
- Baidu Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU)
- Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL)
NVIDIA Corporation
First up, we have one of the tech giants playing a big role in autonomous driving, NVIDIA. The company is essentially an artificial intelligence computing company. It is renowned for its graphics processing units (GPU) and solutions for gaming platforms. What some may not know is that the company also has its hands in the automotive vehicle industry. Impressively, NVDA stock has risen by over 35% since the start of the year.
Last Friday, AEye Inc, the global leader in adaptive, high-performance LiDAR solutions announced that it is working with NVIDIA to bring its adaptive, intelligent sensing to the NVIDIA DRIVE autonomous vehicle platform. With this, AV developers will be able to increase the saliency and quality of data collected to build and deploy the best advanced driver-assistance systems and AV applications. This is yet another upgrade to NVIDIA’s state-of-the-art autonomous driving software.
In other news, the company also launched the UK’s most powerful supercomputer earlier this month. The Cambridge-1 will enable top scientists and healthcare experts to use the combination of AI and simulation to bolster the country’s life sciences industry. These are exciting developments for the company and illustrate its potential in its respective industry. So, would you say that NVDA stock is a top AV stock to buy now?
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Luminar Technologies Inc
Following that, we have another interesting player from the autonomous industry in Luminar. In detail, the company is an autonomous vehicle and lidar technology company for passenger vehicles and trucks. It designs, builds, and sells long-range lidar products for autonomous driving. There is no secret that LAZR stock has not had the best year thus far. That said, those who have faith in the company may view this as a potential buying opportunity.
In June, there was encouraging news as the company announced that it will be standard on Volvo Cars’ forthcoming fully electric flagship vehicle. The Volvo XC90 will now come with Luminar’s Iris and perception from its Sentinel solution. Volvo Cars aim to reduce collisions with the new safety package, and the reduction rate is anticipated to accelerate overtime via over-the-air software updates. This is a big milestone for the company as it strives to establish the next era of safety technology.
It is also noteworthy that Luminar will be providing its quarterly business update on August 12. The company has remained focused on hitting its targets so far this year from its first-quarter update. The revenue for the first quarter came in at $5.3 million, an increase of 37% from the prior year and a sequential 118% increase compared to the previous quarter. So, investors would be keen to see if Luminar could keep up its performance in its upcoming business update. With that in mind, would you be watching LAZR stock?
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Baidu Inc
Next up, we have one of the tech giants from China, Baidu. The company is known for its search platform, Baidu.com. Much like Google search, you could find information online, including Webpages, news, images, and many more. Besides that, the company‘s product and service offerings also include Baidu AI Cloud, Mobile Ecosystem, and Intelligent Driving.
A month ago, the company announced its partnership with BAIC Group’s EV brand ARCFOX to release Apollo Moon. This new generation robotaxis will cost approximately $74,000 to manufacture. It appears that there will be a fleet of 1,000 Apollo Moon in three years. Hence, this enables autonomous ride-hailing services to permeate more urban cities in China. This is a monumental milestone in the commercialization of fully autonomous ride-hailing services in the transportation industry.
Financially, the company is also in a strong position. During its first quarter, the company’s revenue came in at $4.29 billion, representing an increase of 25% year-over-year. Meanwhile, it reported an operating income of $426 million compared to a loss of $437 million in the prior-year quarter. Safe to say, the company is trending in the right direction on the financial end. All things considered, would you invest in BIDU stock?
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Alphabet Inc
To sum up the list, we have the tech giant, Alphabet Inc. Most would know the company from its Google segment where it includes Google Services and Google Cloud. But did you know, the company started a self-driving car project more than a decade ago with the goals of driving autonomously for over ten undisrupted 100-mile routes. This project has since turned into Waymo.
Starting from June, Waymo One, the ride-hailing service that uses driverless vehicles in Phoenix, can now be accessed through Google Maps. As of now, Waymo has about 600 vehicles in its U.S. fleet and the majority of it is in the Phoenix area. So, if it pops up in Google Maps, users can be certain that it will indeed be driverless. The collaboration indicates Waymo’s push to become more visible and accessible to the public.
Also, there was an announcement of a $2.5 billion investment round for advancing its autonomous driving technology and growing its team. Self-driving companies have found adoption to be slightly more difficult than expected. Hence, reliance on other investors to help support the unit may be necessary at times. With that said, it shows that the company is relentless in its pursuit of success in this next-generation industry. So, would investing in GOOGL stock be a wise choice?
