Credit: Shutterstock photoThe advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) market is expected to reach a whopping $91.83 billion, per recent data from research firm MarketsandMarkets, witnessing CAGR of 20.96% between 2018 and 2025.
Notably, artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) solutions form integral parts of the technology powering ADAS and eventually autonomous driving. Providers of these technologies are thus poised to benefit from the massive projected growth. The advancements made by these players will also help them to gain a competitive edge against the other players.
E-commerce giant, AmazonAMZN recently announced that it has patented an autonomous driving technology that deals with the navigation of traffic jams, construction and weather condition.
Amazon's entry into the self-driving industry was almost confirmed when in January 2017, the company was awarded an U.S. patent for a road guidance system that includes reversible lanes.
Additionally, at The International Consumer Electronics Show 2018, the company announced a partnership with Toyota dealing with a "self-driving food delivery vehicle" called e-Pallette.
Notably, Amazon's moves in the self-driving space seem to be aimed at ensuring faster delivery of items to consumers as of now. If this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company decides to explore the domain in a full-fledged manner, the players in the ADAS industry are likely to face tough competition.
You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 stocks here .
Amazon.com, Inc. Revenue (TTM)
Amazon.com, Inc. Revenue (TTM) | Amazon.com, Inc. Quote
Other Contenders
Recent developments at AppleAAPL suggest that the company is trying to strengthen its foothold in the industry.
In early August, the company hired Doug Field for Project Titan, which deals with its electric-car related initiatives. Notably, Field worked at Tesla TSLA as the senior vice president of engineering. We note that Doug had been the vice president of Mac hardware engineering at Apple before he joined Tesla in 2013.
In June, Apple appointed Jaime Waydo, a senior engineer from Google's self-driving project, Waymo. The addition of these two big names is expected to speed up the company's efforts to launch its self-driving car.
In a recent article , MacRumors quoted long-time Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who stated that the company is on track to launch Apple Car between 2023 and 2025, which will help this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock achieve market valuation of $2 trillion.
Apple Inc. Revenue (TTM)
Apple Inc. Revenue (TTM) | Apple Inc. Quote
With Alphabet 's GOOGL Google short of a senior engineer, let's see where it stands in the industry at the moment.
Waymo has been in the works for a very long time, covering 5 million miles in test drive, reportedly, till February. As a result, it has gathered a huge set of valuable data related to roads and lanes, which is expected to be beneficial for safe self-driving going ahead.
The company has a partnership with Fiat Chrysler and Jaguar Land Rover, with test vehicles on the streets of Michigan, Arizona, Washington, and Georgia among others. In July, the company partnered with retail giant Walmart WMT for the test pilot program of its robo-taxi service. Per the deal, self-driving minivans from Waymo will provide pick up and drop service to Walmart customers in Chandler, AZ. The end date of the program has not yet been specified.
Google expects to launch its robo-taxi service for commercial use in Phoenix, AZ in the later part of 2018. This will be an exciting event to watch out for and is expected to boost the overall performance of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock.
Alphabet Inc. Revenue (TTM)
Alphabet Inc. Revenue (TTM) | Alphabet Inc. Quote
Last but definitely not the least, the company which surely deserves a place in a discussion of technology related to autonomous vehicles is BaiduBIDU , also known as China's Google.
While the other players are still sticking to cars, Baidu is thinking bigger, with autonomous buses. In July, the company announced that it has already started volume production of China's first level 4 fully autonomous bus called Apolong.
Powered by the company's autonomous driving open platform, Apollo, the buses are being developed in collaboration with King Long, a Chinese manufacturer. The 14-seater buses are expected to be used for commercial purposes initially in Chinese cities like Beijing, Shenzhen, Xiongan, Wuhan and Pingtan of Fujian province before these hit the roads in Japan in early 2019.
Additionally, this Zacks Rank #3 stock also announced an upgraded version of its autonomous driving platform. Apollo 3.0 is expected to aid further development of driverless vehicles.
Baidu, Inc. Revenue (TTM)
Baidu, Inc. Revenue (TTM) | Baidu, Inc. Quote
To Conclude
We believe the ADAS and autonomous driving industry has loads to offer to the companies that operate in the domain. If the cards are rightly played, all the players can make the most of the opportunity, which will eventually aid their financial health in the long run.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
