Vueron Newsletter
No. 214
2025.06.20
| Would you take a Waymo? Self-driving cars in San Antonio | ||
| Autonomous Vehicles | Tesla pivots from carmaker to autonomous platform | |
| ADAS | J2025 Renault Trafic: More safety gear, small price bump for French van | |
| Innoviz at TD Cowen Conference: LiDAR Growth and Challenges | ||
| Chinese lidar maker Hesai zeroes in on South-East Asia for first overseas plant |
1. Would you take a Waymo? Self-driving cars in San Antonio
- Waymo has launched testing of its self-driving vehicles in San Antonio, beginning with human-driven vehicles to collect road data.
- The company aims to minimize driver-related crashes by eventually transitioning to fully autonomous operations.
- A UTSA professor noted that eliminating human factors like fatigue, distraction, and intoxication could reduce Texas road accidents.
- Waymo reported an 81% reduction in injury crashes in cities like San Francisco and Phoenix where its AVs are deployed.
- Test routes include several neighborhoods and major highways in San Antonio, such as I-10, I-35, I-37, and US-281.
- City officials are coordinating with fire and police departments to prepare infrastructure and protocols for AV integration.
Waymo is expanding its AV testing to San Antonio with the goal of reducing driver error and enhancing road safety through self-driving technology.
2. Tesla pivots from carmaker to autonomous platform
- Tesla is shifting its focus from electric vehicle sales to autonomous platforms and recurring service revenue, aiming to reduce reliance on hardware profits.
- Elon Musk announced a strategic shift following weak Q1 2025 earnings and rising competition from Chinese EV makers.
- A commercial robotaxi service is scheduled for launch on August 8, 2025, signaling a move toward Mobility-as-a-Service.
- Tesla is building a vertically integrated ecosystem, including energy products like Powerwall and Supercharger networks, alongside autonomous driving technologies.
- Inspired by Apple’s service model, Tesla aims to turn each vehicle into a continuously operating, revenue-generating robot.
- The company is leveraging its Dojo supercomputer and real-world driving data to improve its AI and autonomy stack.
- This transformation positions Tesla as an infrastructure provider for transportation, energy, and autonomous mobility — not just a car manufacturer.
3. 2025 Renault Trafic: More safety gear, small price bump for French van
- Renault has updated the 2025 Trafic van with new ADAS features, modest design tweaks, and a $490 price increase across all variants.
- New safety additions include Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), a driver attention monitor, an ADAS shortcut button, and a QR rescue code for emergency responders.
- The ADAS shortcut button allows drivers to toggle selected functions and customize settings using a “perso” mode.
- Additional interior upgrades include a glazed steel bulkhead, under-seat storage, a 7-inch digital display, and chrome trim in higher trims.
- The powertrain remains unchanged with a 2.0L turbo-diesel engine delivering 125kW and 380Nm through either manual or dual-clutch automatic transmissions.
- Renault continues to offer a five-year, unlimited-kilometer warranty along with 12-month/30,000km service intervals and capped-price servicing.
Renault enhances the 2025 Trafic with new ADAS features and interior refinements, maintaining practicality with a slight price increase.
4. Innoviz at TD Cowen Conference: LiDAR Growth and Challenges
- Innoviz Technologies shared its strategic roadmap at the TD Cowen 2025 TMT Conference, emphasizing LiDAR’s role in L3/L4 autonomous driving and non-automotive markets.
- The company is strengthening partnerships with Mobileye and NVIDIA to accelerate adoption and ecosystem integration.
- Production scale-up is underway via Fabrinet, with in-house designed machinery and testers aimed at achieving SOP readiness.
- Innoviz III is in development, aiming for 30x performance improvements and 70% BOM cost reduction over Innoviz I.
- By 2026–2027, commercial L4 applications (e.g., robotaxis) will begin deployment, while L3 consumer adoption is projected to ramp up by 2027.
- Non-automotive sectors like smart cities, security, and industrial automation are seen as low-barrier, high-opportunity growth channels.
- Each L3 vehicle uses one LiDAR, while L4 commercial vehicles may use up to nine, significantly boosting per-unit revenue potential.
- Innoviz aims to secure 1–3 new program wins and complete production qualification by year-end to support long-term scalability.
Innoviz outlines its LiDAR strategy across autonomous and non-auto markets, with a focus on cost reduction, production maturity, and ecosystem partnerships.
5. Chinese lidar maker Hesai zeroes in on South-East Asia for first overseas plant
- Hesai Group, the world’s largest automotive LiDAR supplier, will open its first overseas plant in Southeast Asia, targeting production start by late 2026.
- The new facility will serve international clients developing smart vehicles, as part of Hesai’s global expansion strategy.
- The announcement follows strong Q1 results: a 46.3% YoY revenue increase (530M yuan) and a sharp reduction in net loss (down 84%).
- Hesai projects 2025 profit between 200M–350M yuan, driven by rising LiDAR demand from EVs and robotics sectors.
- Production will scale up to 2 million units in 2025, quadrupling from 2024’s 502,000 units, with 1.5 million units expected to be delivered this year.
- Hesai’s key clients include Li Auto, Geely, and reportedly Mercedes-Benz, which will use Hesai sensors in next-gen models over the next decade.
- Despite EV price wars in China, Hesai expects steady growth, citing growing focus on autonomous safety and ADAS investment.
- Further expansion into Europe is planned, aligning with partnerships to co-develop ADAS solutions with major OEMs.
Hesai is expanding globally with a Southeast Asian plant to meet surging LiDAR demand, solidifying its role in smart vehicle and ADAS markets.
*Contents above are the opinion of ChatGPT, not an individual nor company
