With micro-net messaging, the field of automated driving is one of the hottest investment areas.
Companies including Intel’s Mobileye, NVIDIA, Ford, General Motors, Waymo, and FYA will benefit from this trend, but one of the biggest winners may be Softbank.
Softbank Reloads on Autopilot
GM announced on June 1 that Japan Softbank Group will use its Vision Fund to drive the automaker’s auto-driving project, GM Cruise Holdings LLC (GM for short). Cruise) invests 2.25 billion U.S. dollars, and GM will also invest 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in this project.
At the moment, both automakers and technology companies want to develop related technologies as soon as possible in order to bring self-driving cars to market. However, most of the vehicles currently on the market that are tagged with 'autopilot' are equipped with some advanced driver assistance functions. The fully automated driving car is still in the testing stage.
In addition, according to The Street reports, Softbank’s Vision Fund has nearly 27 million shares of NVIDIA shares with a market capitalization of more than US$7 billion. Softbank has invested billions of dollars in a number of global mobile vehicle service companies and invested nearly US$10 billion in Uber alone. .
These companies are developing autonomous driving technology. Once the self-driving technology is mature, the mobile bidding company will become the main beneficiary because it no longer needs to drive at the highest cost.
Softbank spent 31 billion US dollars in March 2017 to acquire ARM. The company has mastered various automotive sensors, safety functions, and automotive and autopilot chip designs.
One of the biggest winners may be Softbank
In the industry, Sun Yizheng is known as the 'investment godfather'. Although Softbank is a communications giant, Sun Zhengyi has had a keen interest in artificial intelligence, mobile travel, and autopilot early. In the field of mobile travel, Softbank has successively China has invested in Dripping, investing in Ola in India and investing 99 in Latin America (the largest domestic mobile travel service provider in Brazil).
At the same time, in the field of automated driving, Softbank acquired the British chip design firm ARM in 2016; in 2017, Softbank acquired $4.9 billion in shares of NVIDIA, becoming the fourth largest shareholder of the company. In addition, Softbank 2016 A joint venture between an artificial intelligence company at the University of Tokyo founded SB Drive. This artificial intelligence company was founded by a former Toyota auto engineer. After the establishment of SB Drive, it started to develop the autonomous driving bus and it can be operated as early as 2019.
From this it can be seen that Softbank is very early in preparation for the construction of future empire, from home to overseas, in the next big game.
The logic of Softbank is not difficult to understand. GM is one of the earliest enterprises to deploy autonomous driving in traditional OEMs. Although technology companies such as Waymo and Uber are leading technology, they are always looking for cooperation between traditional car companies to provide vehicles, such as Waymo and Chrysler. In cooperation with Jaguar, Uber's drive test also depends on Volvo's vehicles and so on.
Softbank has other smaller investments ranging from 100 million to 500 million U.S. dollars. These smaller investments will generate synergies in the Softbank portfolio.
Softbank's investment in the automotive industry once again highlights its concern and obsession with future technology. To a certain extent, Softbank often invests in different companies in the same field. Softbank is the biggest winner no matter which company wins the last. .