Bloomberg experts identified leaders in the race of drones

9 June 2018

Who will present their own autopilot?

To this point in the race unmanned technology involved almost all car manufacturers. They include companies from the it sector, taxi and ridesharing. The media constantly talks about the latest developments of various brands: some expand the test fleet, others start testing in the snows of Norway, and others have offered to take a taxi without a driver. But who is the leader of this race? Bloomberg experts have identified leaders in this field.

Analysts have come to the conclusion that the peloton was led by the company Waymo, which is a subsidiary of Alphabet (a more familiar name — Google). It is believed that in recent Waymo increased the distance to their pursuers behind her moving General Motors and a couple of other players. It is expected that Google ahead of the competition for at least one year.

A week ago it became known about the intention of Waymo buy another 62,000 copies of the Chrysler Pacifica. Such an impressive fleet of minivans will be used not only to debug the autopilot, but also to deploy the service unmanned ridesharing. In 2018 Waymo is going to start to render services on transportation of passengers, in which all machines will always be fully unmanned mode.

General Motors also wants to provide services in the field of passenger transport. This will be used for electric vehicles, the Chevrolet Bolt, in which no one is spinning the wheel and pushing the pedals. However, the launch of such a service will be, at best, in 2019. But analysts Bloomberg noted another positive factor: may 31, SoftBank Vision Fund, a Japanese investor in the sphere of high technologies, has invested $2,25 billion in the GM unit Cruise Holdings, which is developing autopilot. Besides, the American concern is still ahead of other developers of drones that intend to begin deploying unmanned fleet in 2020.

a "Waymo has developed a phenomenal system that is ahead of our competitors — said Brian Collie (Collie Brian), head of the automotive division of consulting company Boston Consulting Group. —But it is significantly different from the production possibilities of an Autonomous vehicle. You have to look at General Motors. In Europe, Daimler is a leader". 

Also Brian Calley explained why companies seek as soon as possible to enter this market. The fact is that the pioneers get all the glory. They will trust the buyers and users of the services. This analyst is sure that the number of players in this innovative market is very limited: in 5-10 years there will be only a few select firms. So the leaders can share the profits. Experts at Goldman Sachs Group estimate that the market robotaxi and ridesharing by 2030 will increase from the current $5 billion to $285 billion. In other words, in 12 years, is expected to 57-fold increase.