The Shovels in a Digital Gold Rush
Here’s where I think most people get it wrong. They see the shiny car and immediately want to bet on the badge. Will it be Waymo, Tesla, or perhaps a resurgent Jaguar Land Rover that wins the robotaxi war? Frankly, I find that a rather uninteresting question. It’s like trying to pick the winning prospector in a gold rush. A much smarter play, in my opinion, is to invest in the fellow selling the shovels, the pickaxes, and the sturdy denim trousers.
Every single one of these autonomous vehicles, regardless of the logo on its bonnet, relies on the same fundamental kit. They all need LiDAR to act as their unblinking eyes, powerful semiconductors to process a city’s worth of data every second, and a suite of cameras and radar for backup. These are the components that make the magic happen. Companies that build these systems, like Mobileye, are supplying the entire industry. They don’t care who wins the consumer race, as long as everyone keeps buying their gear.