Automotive Cloud Event
Our very first event in Seattle together with TiE Seattle was a huge success with a full house and speakers from Microsoft, Mercedes, Grab, Nauto and more. Here are some pictures.
Author: subhash-sms
The Autonomous Mobility Unicorns
Waymo with a projected valuation of $250 billion is the poster-child of autonomous mobility unicorns. Here’s a look at the some of unicorns in this space.
One quantitative measure of comparison is California DMV’s Autonomous Vehicle Disengagement Reports. The last self reported 2018 data by the participating companies gives us an idea of the leaders in the space.
However, this is by no means a comprehensive data set since it is limited to self reported data from companies testing autonomous vehicles in California, it nevertheless provides some basis for comparison.
A similar data collection is done by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport (BMCT) that showed among others, Baidu with its Apollo platform completing 87,000 miles of autonomous testing in 2018 making it another top contender.
One other prominent player Aptiv, states it has logged over one million autonomous miles globally. They also have a partnership with Lyft and reports to have given over 30,000 rides to Lyft users.
Here is a list of some of the key AV companies and their reported valuation estimates at time of writing.
| Company | Reported Valuation |
 |
$175 billion |
 |
$15 billion |
 |
? |
 |
? |
 |
$7.25 billion |
 |
$4 billion |
 |
$3.2 billion |
 |
$2.7 billion |
 |
$2.5 billion |
 |
$1+ billion |
 |
? |
 |
$1+ billion |
 |
$1+ billion |
 |
$1 billion |
Even though Tesla does not test autonomous vehicles on public roads year, it reports over one billion AutoPilot miles and also claims to operate a ‘shadow-mode’ to analyze and improve its Autopilot. During its Autonomy Day, Elon Musk showcased its self-driving chip and announced Tesla will have over a million cars and robo-taxis with will full self-driving tech in 2020.
It will be interesting to see how these companies fare in the next few years. Share your thoughts and suggestions below.
Smart mobility jobs in Seattle
Are you interested in improving transportation technologies to deliver cleaner, efficient, safer and more convenient solutions? Then, you should check out these job opportunities and events from some of the hottest smart mobility tech companies in Seattle area.
- GM Cruise: One of the hottest and well-funded self-driving car companies. Check out their openings in Seattle and their recruiting tech talk event on April 1st.
- Mercedes: Work with one of the world’s best car makers. They are hiring actively in Seattle. Check it out.
- Convoy: The hottest mobility startup unicorn in Seattle is hiring tons of people.
- Uber: The company that is expected to be among the biggest IPOs in the mobility segment soon is hiring in Seattle. Check out their UberBus hiring event on Apr 2nd.
- Blue Origin: The hottest aerospace startup in the area is hiring hundreds in Kent. Check out their openings and attend this space industry career event tonight in Seattle to meet their team.
Join our mailing list to get updates on upcoming smart mobility events and news.
Smart mobility, powered by Seattle tech
Airplanes, spacecrafts, personal flight, drones, cars, trucks, ships, trains, scooters, bikes and more are becoming smarter, safer and low emission.
Several companies in the Seattle and PNW area are bringing some of the core technologies driving these next generation transportation technology innovations. We are launching Smart Mobility Seattle to foster technology firms in this domain.
Here is a snapshot of companies in the smart mobility domain in the Seattle/PNW area:
Major Corporations
- Amazon offers core cloud infrastructure and AI technologies in its AWS Automotive portfolio of solutions. Amazon is also at the leading edge of delivery and logistics technologies including autonomous drones, delivery bots and robots. Amazon and Bezos Expeditions have been actively investing in companies like Aurora, Rivian, Blue Origin and Convoy.
- Microsoft is a well entrenched with major mobility manufacturers at the enterprise level and brings a suite of solutions in the automotive domain as well some focused solutions like the Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform (MCVP), leveraging Cloud, IoT, AI, Maps and Voice technologies. Microsoft has also makes investments in mobility related firms including Grab, ClearMotion, Airmap, Airbotics, Netradyne and others.
- Boeing is the largest employer in the Seattle area and is at the forefront of innovation in the aerospace industry. Boeing has made several investments directly and acquisitions via HorizonX Ventures in innovative startups in the aerospace domain including local companies like Zunum Aero and Insitu.
- T-Mobile: Connectivity via telematics is a key part of smart mobility and T-Mobile is a major provider of mobile connectivity. T-Mobile also offers an aftermarket connect car solutions called SyncUp Drive and SyncUp Fleet.
- OEMs: Car and truck makers in the area include Mercedes (MBRDNA) and Paccar locally and Daimler Trucks (DTNA) in Portland.
Startups
- Car sharing service providers Uber, Migo and ReachNow have R&D offices in Seattle area.
- Autonomous technology companies including GM’s Cruise and MightyAI have significant Seattle presence and related HD Map technology firm Carmera has an R&D office in Seattle. Polysync and DesignatedDriver are based in Portland.
- Trucking unicorn, Convoy as well as fleet technology provider Zonar are both HQ’d in the Seattle area.
- Connected Car Software companies INRIX, Xevo and Airbiquity are local firms. Glypmse is another related solution focused on location analytics.
- Connectivity Infrastructure companies Kymeta, Sagetech as well as sensor company Echodyne are WA state based.
- Drone and unmanned aerial vehicle companies Insitu and Aerovel. Drone wireless charging – WiBotic.
These and other companies are listed in our directory that will be continually updated.
We are in the process of organizing our first Smart Mobility Seattle event. Stay tuned.