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Tesla Model 3 Delivery Rumors Help Keep D20 Stock Index Even

The rumors circulating that deliveries of the Tesla Model 3 have significantly ramped up helped keep the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) from suffering from a third consecutive weekly loss. 

Hundreds of Tesla Model 3 vehicles have appeared at delivery centers, leading the market to believe that the automaker has conquered its production problems after a slow start, and is finally creating the vehicles at the rate they originally planned.

Tesla stock has responded appropriately, gaining 9.0 percent this week, while being the leading price-percentage gainer for the D20 in each of the last two weeks.

With 11 price losers and nine gainers, the D20 remained unchanged this week, closing at 252.14 and stopping a slide after two consecutive weeks of losses. For the third week in a row it lost ground to both the Dow, which gained 1.3 percent, and the S&P 500, which inched up 0.9 percent and closed at 2,675.81.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers: 

Upstream, an Israeli-based startup, has announced it has landed a $9-million Series A round of funding. The focus of the startup is on security for connected vehicles. It aims to protect vehicles that use services like On-Star with a cloud-based SaaS application versus an on-board security application.

Ouster, a LiDAR startup, announced it has raised $27 million in a Series A, to push its technology into mass production. Its first product, a 64-channel sensor called OS1, is available now and priced at $12,000. The company has focused on design for manufacturability and has monthly production targets of 1,000 in January 2018 and tens of thousands by the end of 2018.

Image: Tesla Model 3 / Credit: Tesla Motors

Aptiv Finalizes Spin-Off From Delphi, Joins D20 Stock Index

Delphi Automotive (old DLPH) finalized its spin out of Delphi Technologies PLC, the powertrain portion of its business this week, becoming the newest constituent of the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20).  It then renamed the balance of its business as Aptiv, which will focus on three segments: Electrical / Electronic Architecture, Electronics, and Safety.

For every three shares of Delphi Automotive PLC that were held on Nov. 22, shareholders received one share of the new Delphi Technologies PLC. The new company will trade on the NYSE under the old symbol of DLPH. The balance of the company, under the new name Aptiv, will trade on the NYSE under the symbol APTV.

The D20 will add APTV and drop DLPH, because Aptiv focuses on connected driving and driverless technology components. Aptiv will retain the recent acquisitions nuTonomy and Movimento, which bolster its push into driverless technology.

All this spinout activity didn’t help the D20, though. The index had 14 price losers, and lost 1.8 percent of its value, closing at 252.14.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers: 

Lyft’s driverless pilot in Boston has begun its rollout with nuTonomy’s technology powering it.  After a June announcement, Uber’s primary competition in the U.S. has recently begun providing driverless ride service to some Lyft patrons in Boston’s Seaport area. New D20 constituent, Aptiv, purchased nuTonomy for $400 million in October while it was still part of Delphi Automotive.

Image: Aptiv car / Credit: Aptiv

Growth by NVIDIA Helps the D20 Stock Index Bounce Back

Thanks to its phenomenal growth over that last two-plus years, the initial 5-percent stake in the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) by NVIDIA (NVDA) has grown to more than 25 percent!

The D20 was reset as a $1,000 investment in 20 stocks in August of 2015. So when NVIDIA drops a D20-leading 8.9 percent in price, like it did last week, the D20 takes a pounding.

The D20 lost 3.5 percent of its value, dropping below 260 to 256.64.  NVIDA wasn’t the only big loser, though — BYD (BYDDY) dropped 7.5 percent to close at $17.64, and Renesas Electronics (TYO:6723) shed 6.7 percent to end the week at ¥1339 per share.

Eleven price losers contributed to the D20 loss. The D20 was outperformed by the Dow, which gained 2.9 percent, and the S&P 500, which added 1.5 percent to its value.

There was some bright news for driverless technology in general this past week. Waymo (GOOG) announced that its driverless vehicles have driven over 4 million miles autonomously on public roads.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Russian software giant Yandex, which has a driverless technology project, announced that it recently test drove its driverless taxi for 300km in the snow. Weather in general, but snow in particular, presents real problems for driverless vehicles. Obscured road markings and slippery conditions can play havoc with driverless algorithms.

BYD’s Rollercoaster Ride Leads a D20 Rebound

Seventeen price gainers, led by Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD (BYDDY), which gained 8.9 percent, led the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) to a rebound this week.

As the leading Chinese maker of commercial electric vehicles including trucks and buses, BYD seemed to benefit from Tesla’s new Semi reveal.

BYD has been on a rollercoaster ride the last few weeks.  It has been the D20’s leading price percentage gainer four times in the last 11 weeks, but has also been the leading price percentage loser three times in the those same 11 weeks.

The D20 added 2.6 percent this week, closing above the 260 mark at 265.92.  It easily topped the Dow and S&P 500, which both gained 0.9 percent.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Uber, trying to put its boardroom troubles behind them and focus on moving away from human drivers, plans to buy 24,000 self driving SUVs from Volvo Cars. Volvo Cars, not to be confused with the D20’s truck and heavy equipment maker Volvo AB (STO: VOLV-B), is owned by the Chinese Vehicle manufacturer Geely. Volvo Cars announced the non-binding, non-exclusive agreement with Uber to provide up to 24,000 driverless XC90s between 2019 and 2021.

Tesla Semi, Roadster Reveals Not Enough to Push D20 Stock Index to Gain

A four-percent stock price jump by Tesla Motors led the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index’s (D20) this week.

Tesla’s (TLSA) reveal of the new Tesla Semi electric big-rig dominated industry headlines this week, helping the company’s stock jump from $302.99 to $315.05 per share. In a big surprise, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also revealed a new Roadster during the same event, which no one was expecting.

Tesla’s real financial fate still hangs on whether or not they can untangle the production problems they have on the Model 3, their reasonably-priced, mass-market electric vehicle.  Their target production rate for the Model 3 is 20,000 cars a month by the end of December. Tesla only produced 260 Model 3s in the last quarter.

Unfortunately, the rest of the D20 didn’t fare so well this week. Eleven price losers dominated the Index and caused it to lose 0.7 percent, closing the week at 259.27.

The Dow and S&P 500 both outperformed the D20 this week. The Dow only dropped 0.3 percent, while the S&P 500 dipped just 0.1 percent to close at 2578.85.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Optimus Ride, a Boston-based startup, announced that it raised $18 million in series A funding. Reps from the MIT spin-off company said they will utilize the additional capital to increase their vehicle fleet and make strategic hires. Optimus Ride has received approval from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to test highly automated vehicles in the commonwealth.

China’s BYD Company Powers D20’s 2nd Consecutive Weekly Gain

Six price gainers, led by China’s BYD Company and Renesas Electronics, overcame 14 price losers to boost the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) 0.4 percent to 261.21.

For the second consecutive week, The D20 outperformed the Dow, which lost 0.5 percent, and the S&P 500, which dipped 0.2 percent.

BYD was the D20’s leading price percentage gainer, adding 7 percent to its value and closing at $18.36. This is a slight turnaround from previous losses this fall, due to fierce competition in the global market over electric and hybrid vehicles, and the Chinese government’s indecision over whether to mandate all new vehicles in the country be electric.

NVIDIA rolled to a six consecutive week of gains by climbing 3.6 percent and ending the week at $216.14 a share.  Renesas has also been on a roll with a six week positive streak by adding 2.7 percent and finishing at ¥1488 per share on the Tokyo Exchange.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Chinese Electric vehicle start-up, Nio, has raised $1 billion in its latest round of fund-raising. The round was led by Tencent Holdings Ltd., the investment arm of Chinese computing giant Tencent.  Tencent and Baidu seem to be locked in a battle for supremacy of the driverless market leadership in China, with escalating investments and announcements.

Denso, Renesas Help Rocket D20 Stock Index to New Height

Fifteen price gainers, led largely by Renesas and Denso, powered the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) to a new all-time high this week.

The D20 gained 1.8 percent to close at 260.10. It easily outperformed the Dow, which gained 0.4 percent, and the S&P 500, which added 0.3 percent to close at 2587.84.

The D20 is now up over 50 percent since the beginning of 2017.

Three stocks drove most of the D20’s rise this week-Renesas Electronics (TYO:6723), Denso (DNZOY) and Volkswagen (VLKPY).

News broke this week that Renesas will provide chips to Denso and Toyota (TM) for Toyota’s driverless car program. Toyota has set a goal of 2020 for market availability of its self-driving vehicles.

Renesas Electronic’s stock price jumped 7.6 percent to close at ¥1449 per share while Denso’s ADR gained 7.4 percent to end the week at $28.

For the third consecutive week, Volkswagen’s ADR made positive progress. It rose 7.4 percent this week to close at $37.83. It announced October’s U.S. sales were up 11.9 percent compared to October of 2016.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

It has been a good year for investing in Driverless Technology startups, according to a new report put out by TechCrunch. In a report posted on Nov. 4 (see below), TechCrunch states that 2017 investments, already totaling at $1.4 billion, are already more than double the total for all of 2016. According to TechCrunch, Silicon Valley is the most popular place for these investments, followed by Israel.

 

Volkswagen Comeback Leads D20 to Small Gain

A strong comeback has made Volkswagen (VLKPY) the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index’s percentage price gainer of the week.

It appears that market analysts are beginning to think that Volkswagen is a “buy” again.  After a little over a year of stock market punishment that saw Volkswagen lose 42 percent of its market value in less than a month due to “Diesel-gate,” Volkswagen is making a comeback.

Volkswagen stock has almost made it back to where it was in early September of 2015-around $36 per share-which is when the bad news broke. Volkswagen’s stock jumped 5.45 percent this past week, closing at $35.22.

Thirteen price gainers just barely overcame seven large losers, to nudge the D20 up 0.17 points to close the week at 255.44. The D20’s 0.1 percent gain was not enough to beat the Dow which added 0.5 percent to its value or the S&P 500 which inched up 0.2 percent.

Chinese electric vehicle maker, BYD (BYDDY) was the D20’s stock price percentage loser this week. Its price dropped from $19.52 to $17.71, a 9.3-percent drop. Global competition in the electric and hybrid vehicle market continues to heat up and hurt BYD’s stock price.

Another D20 lowlight was Tesla (TSLA), whose stock price dropped 7 percent in advance of its earnings release this coming Wednesday, as the number of Model 3s produced in this quarter was 80 percent less than targeted.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Nutonomy, the Boston-based driverless car software company, has announced that it was purchased by D20 constituent Delphi (DLPH) for $450 million. The purchase doubles the number of engineers working for Delphi on driverless technology to 200.  Nutonomy’s previous partnerships with Lyft and Peugeot will continue.

Blickfeld, a German start-up focused on developing LiDAR systems for driverless vehicles, announced that it has received $4.25 million in venture seed funding. Blickfeld’s approach is to use off-the-shelf components and silicon, which should lower the cost per unit when they are put into production in vehicles. One of the investors is Fluxunit, part of Osram/Sylvania, one of the world’s leading lighting technology companies.

Volvo is the D20’s Bright Spot This Week, As Orders For New Trucks Surge

Though Volvo AB announced promising quarterly earnings and both the Dow and S&P 500 hit new highs, the D20 Stock Index lost ground this week.

Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index reached all-time highs this week.  The Dow did so in spectacular fashion, broaching the 23,000 mark for the first time and adding 2 percent to its value while closing the week at 23,328.63.  The S&P 500 Index gained 0.9 percent and finished at 2,575.21, a new record as well.

With only six price gainers and 14 price losers, the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) lost 0.4 percent of its value, closing down 1.1 points at 255.26.  The last week the D20 lost ground while both the Dow and S&P 500 stayed even or rose was the week ending July 28, 2017.

One bright spot for the D20 was Volvo AB (STO: VOLV-B), whose announced quarterly earnings beat market profit expectations as orders for its trucks surged. Shares prices for Volvo AB, which are traded on the Stockholm exchange in SEK, jumped from 155.5 to 165.9, a 6.7-percent increase.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Lyft continues to make positive headlines, as Alphabet-the parent company of Google and Waymo-announced it is leading a $1-billion investment round in Lyft. Lyft continues to trail Uber in both market share and valuation, but not in positive press. Uber and Waymo are currently litigating over trade secrets allegedly stolen by a former Waymo employee who later joined Uber.

NVIDIA Unveils New Pegasus AI Computer, Boosting Stock and Taking D20 With It

This week marked a new all-time high for NVIDIA (NVDA), whose stock price soared 7.3 percent to close at $194.59 a share after the company unveiled its new Pegasus AI computer, which is designed for driverless vehicles.

The license plate-sized computer is 10 times more powerful than its predecessor, the NVIDIA Drive PX 2, and is driven by four high-performance, GPU-embedded AI processors.

Thanks to the incredible performance by NVIDIA, the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) jumped 1.7 percent to 256.36, its fifth consecutive weekly gain.

As a percentage of value, the D20 has now beaten or tied the Dow and S&P 500 for eight straight weeks. The Dow increased 0.4 percent and closed at 2871.72 this week, while the S&P 500 inched up to 2553.17, a 0.2-percent gain.

In other D20 news, after gaining 75 percent in the last five weeks, BYD Company’s (BYDDY) stock reversed itself and was the D20’s leading price-percentage loser last week. It lost 4.1 percent and closed at $20.11 as rumors subsided about China mandating all vehicles be electric-like those made by BYD-in some of its cities.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up-and-Comers:

Velodyne, the most established LiDAR manufacturer, has announced that they have quadrupled production capacity of their high-performance LiDAR sensors to meet growing demand. This production increase was made possible by Velodyne’s investment in a 200,000-square-foot mega-factory in San Jose, California.

In other LiDAR news, General Motor’s (GM) driverless division, Cruise, has acquired Strobe, a LiDAR sensor maker which, while trying to reduce cost and complexity, has reduced its LiDAR sensor array to one chip.