Tag: Morgan

Morgan – the last family-owned British carmaker set to sell to Italian firm

“ Morgan Motor Company has announced that Italian investment firm, Investindustrial, will take over majority ownership of the car company in April. Investindustrial has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Morgan Motor Company – image courtesy of Investindustrial The announcement occurred at the Geneva motor show, alongside the company unveiling its latest Morgan… Continue reading Morgan – the last family-owned British carmaker set to sell to Italian firm

Hammerhead raises $4.2M to build a smarter operating system for bikes

Hammerhead founder and CEO Piet Morgan is a bicyclist, and he started the company because he wanted a better navigation system. So Hammerhead crowdfunded its first product, the H1, and subsequently built Karoo, a “cycling computer” that supports navigation and training. But Morgan told me his ambitions are bigger than that. After all, he sees… Continue reading Hammerhead raises $4.2M to build a smarter operating system for bikes

Investindustrial Acquires Majority Stake In Morgan Motor Company

5th March 2019 – Investindustrial has today announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Morgan Motor Company Ltd (“Morgan”), the iconic 110-year old British sports cars manufacturer. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and it is expected to complete in April 2019. The Morgan family will continue to act as stewards for the… Continue reading Investindustrial Acquires Majority Stake In Morgan Motor Company

AEye Advisory Board Profile: Scott Pfotenhauer

We sat down with each of our Advisory Board Members to ask them about their vision for the future of self-driving cars…
Mr. Pfotenhauer began his career at Intel in the mid 1970’s and has since been involved with numerous technology companies. Since joining Morgan Stanley in 1996, he developed and leveraged an expansive network of investment banking and wealth management resources to help clients formulate exit strategies for their businesses. He is a Senior Investment Management Consultant with Morgan Stanley, advising private client and corporate executives. Pfotenhauer obtained both a BA and MBA in Business from California Coast University.

Q: Where do you see ADAS solutions, autonomous vehicles, and/or artificial perception, heading within the next few years? The next decade? Beyond?
I was fortunate enough to work for Intel from the mid 70’s to the mid 90’s — and participated in the advent of desktop and mobile computing, which had their foundation on Intel products.

In the last 25 years, I’ve continued to look around the corner to try and spot the next “big thing”. We now have the advanced computing tools that allow companies to apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) within their decision making and take advantage of big data. These trends converge around the auto industry and its next inflection points — EVs and autonomy.

Q: What do you see as the next logical step for the auto industry?
When I think about the auto industry, it’s remarkable how many inflection points it has gone through. The internal combustion engine of 1876 made cars feasible, while mass production which began in the early 1900’s made them affordable. The starter engine of 1912 rendered hand cranks obsolete, and then the first transcontinental highway in 1913 opened up the nation. The pickup truck of the early 1930’s made the vehicle more functional, while the automatic transmission, power steering, and braking of the 40’s and 50’s made it easier and safer for just about anyone to drive.

Seat belts, anti-lock brakes, and airbags increased the safety, while GPS and maps made us all more efficient. Now we have begun the climb up the 5 levels of automation — we won’t get anywhere without a complete set of artificial eyes — that are always on, don’t blink, don’t get distracted, or won’t tire.

AEye Advisory Board Profile: Scott Pfotenhauer — AEye Advisory Board Profile: Elliot GarbusAEye Advisory Board Profile: Tim ShipleThe Future of Autonomous Vehicles: Part I – Think Like a Robot, Perceive Like a HumanThe Future of Autonomous Vehicles: Part II – Blind Technology without Compassion Is RuthlessDeconstructing Two Conventional LiDAR MetricsAEye’s iDAR Shatters Both Range and Scan Rate Performance Records for Automotive Grade LiDARElon Musk Is Right: LiDAR Is a Crutch (Sort of.)AEye’s iDAR Leverages Biomimicry to Enable First Solid State Lidar with 100Hz Scan RateBlair LaCorte Named President of AEyeFutureCar Provides an In-Depth Look into How AEye’s AI-Based Perception System Can Become the ‘Eyes’ of Self-Driving Cars

UPDATE 1-VW could sell smaller trucks stake if markets in a spin – sources

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen could sell a smaller stake in its Traton trucks division than expected if markets are shaken by Brexit, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday. FILE PHOTO: The logo of Volkswagen’s truck unit Traton, former Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG, is pictured in Hanover, Germany September 19, 2018.… Continue reading UPDATE 1-VW could sell smaller trucks stake if markets in a spin – sources

Edited Transcript of ZIL2.DE earnings conference call or presentation 20-Feb-19 9:00am GMT

Preliminary 2018 Elringklinger AG Earnings Call Dettingen/Erms Feb 22, 2019 (Thomson StreetEvents) — Edited Transcript of ElringKlinger AG earnings conference call or presentation Wednesday, February 20, 2019 at 9:00:00am GMT TEXT version of Transcript ================================================================================ Corporate Participants ================================================================================ * Stefan Wolf ElringKlinger AG – Chairman of the Management Board & CEO * Thomas Jessulat ElringKlinger… Continue reading Edited Transcript of ZIL2.DE earnings conference call or presentation 20-Feb-19 9:00am GMT

Lime hires its first CFO

Lime is hiring Ted Tobiason, former managing director in tech equity capital markets, at Morgan Stanley, to serve as its chief financial officer. This comes following Lime’s behemoth of a $310 million Series D round earlier this month. Led by Bain Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity Ventures, GV and IVP, the round values Lime at $2.4 billion. Lime, which… Continue reading Lime hires its first CFO

GM’s $25M stock incentive plan for Cruise chief Dan Ammann points to IPO – Autoblog – Autoblog

DETROIT — General Motors on Wednesday outlined an incentive plan for the head of its self-driving car unit that points the way toward a possible initial public offering for the business. The No. 1 U.S. automaker disclosed a long-term compensation plan that incentivizes Dan Ammann, chief executive of the Cruise unit, to develop the technology… Continue reading GM’s $25M stock incentive plan for Cruise chief Dan Ammann points to IPO – Autoblog – Autoblog

Electric truck start-up Rivian announces $700 million investment round led by Amazon

Source: Rivian
Rivian R1T electric pickup truck

Electric truck start-up and potential Tesla rival Rivian announced a $700 million investment round led by Amazon on Friday.

The announcement comes just months after the Michigan-based company unveiled both an electric pickup truck and sport utility vehicle at the LA Auto Show in November.

“This investment is an important milestone for Rivian and the shift to sustainable mobility,” said RJ Scaringe, Rivian Founder and CEO. “Beyond simply eliminating compromises that exist around performance, capability and efficiency, we are working to drive innovation across the entire customer experience. Delivering on this vision requires the right partners, and we are excited to have Amazon with us on our journey to create products, technology and experiences that reset expectations of what is possible.”

The news confirms a Reuters report on Tuesday that Amazon had invested in the firm. Reuters had also reported that automaker General Motors had made an investment in Rivian, but neither GM nor Rivian has confirmed this yet.

The round included investments from Rivian's existing shareholders. It will remain an independent company. Rivian currently has more than 750 employees located in several locations, including Plymouth, Michigan; San Jose and Irvine, California; Normal, Illinois; and Surrey, England.

It plans to launch its R1T pickup truck and R1S sport utility in the U.S. in 2020, and begin introducing them overseas in 2021. The company has modeled both vehicles on what it calls a “skateboard” platform, which it says it flexible enough to accommodate several different vehicle body styles.

Some industry analysts have speculated that Amazon could be interested in Rivian's platform for developing vehicles for its massive global logistics needs.

“We're inspired by Rivian's vision for the future of electric transportation,” said Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer. “RJ has built an impressive organization, with a product portfolio and technology to match. We're thrilled to invest in such an innovative company.”

This is Amazon's second investment in transportation this month. The online giant recently put money into Aurora, an autonomous vehicle technology company run by Waymo and Tesla alumni.

Trucks and SUVs are also increasingly more popular with U.S. consumers than cars, and customers seem willing to pay more for them, meaning more profits for automakers. The business case for an electric pickup or SUV could be stronger than one for a sedan, given how much money companies have had to sink into electric batteries and motors and how difficult it has been for companies to make money on electric cars.

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said in a note this week that a successful electric pickup from an upstart such as Rivian or Tesla could pose a serious threat to Detroit automakers, who depend heavily on sales of truck-based vehicles.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.