Hyundai Spending Nearly $1 Billion To Keep Self-Driving Startup 'Motional' Alive (techcrunch.com) 7
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Hyundai has agreed to spend nearly $1 billion on Motional, an investment that will give the automaker a majority stake while providing the self-driving startup with the necessary capital to keep operating. The Korean automaker invested $475 million directly into Motional as part of a broader deal that includes buying out joint venture partner Aptiv. As part of the deal, Hyundai will spend another $448 million to buy 11% of Aptiv's common equity interest in Motional, according to information revealed Thursday in Aptiv's first-quarter earnings report.
Aptiv also shared that it expects to reduce its common equity interest in Motional from 50% as of March 31 to about 15%, leaving Hyundai with the remaining 85% control. Aptiv Chairman and CEO Kevin Clark flagged in January that the company would reduce its ownership interest in Motional. The company said at the time that it would stop allocating capital towards Motional due to the high cost of commercializing a robotaxi business and the long road ahead to profits. Aptiv on Thursday reduced its full-year net sales forecast for 2024 to be between $20.85 billion and $21.45 billion, down from between $21.3 billion to $21.9 billion. Motional confirmed the new funding round and increased stake from Hyundai, but didn't confirm Aptiv's numbers. Hyundai, however, said the amounts listed in Aptiv's earnings report were accurate. "Motional started as Boston-based autonomous vehicle startup nuTonomy in 2013, before being acquired by Delphi for $450 million," reports TechCrunch. "Delphi would later split it's business with the Aptiv unit absorbing nuTonomy. The entity became Motional under a $4 billion Hyundai-Aptiv joint venture in 2019."
"While it's clear from Aptiv's earnings report that the company is trying to manage risks and optimize finances amid a less positive outlook, the company's retreat, and Hyundai's step forward, raises questions about Motional's future."
Aptiv also shared that it expects to reduce its common equity interest in Motional from 50% as of March 31 to about 15%, leaving Hyundai with the remaining 85% control. Aptiv Chairman and CEO Kevin Clark flagged in January that the company would reduce its ownership interest in Motional. The company said at the time that it would stop allocating capital towards Motional due to the high cost of commercializing a robotaxi business and the long road ahead to profits. Aptiv on Thursday reduced its full-year net sales forecast for 2024 to be between $20.85 billion and $21.45 billion, down from between $21.3 billion to $21.9 billion. Motional confirmed the new funding round and increased stake from Hyundai, but didn't confirm Aptiv's numbers. Hyundai, however, said the amounts listed in Aptiv's earnings report were accurate. "Motional started as Boston-based autonomous vehicle startup nuTonomy in 2013, before being acquired by Delphi for $450 million," reports TechCrunch. "Delphi would later split it's business with the Aptiv unit absorbing nuTonomy. The entity became Motional under a $4 billion Hyundai-Aptiv joint venture in 2019."
"While it's clear from Aptiv's earnings report that the company is trying to manage risks and optimize finances amid a less positive outlook, the company's retreat, and Hyundai's step forward, raises questions about Motional's future."
Money well spent. (Score:2)
Let's hope they'll get better returns on investment than the people who chipped in for "full self-driving".
Re: (Score:2)
You mean the people who shelled out $12,000 to $15,000 several years ago based on hype and still haven't seen anything they've paid for? Or the people who recently shelled out $8,000 for the same "feature" which doesn't exist while all those other people don't get a refund? Or the people who keep saying it's just around the corner year after year?
That's not the definition of invenstment. That's called scamming.
Re: (Score:2)
Who am I to judge :)
Re:Money well spent. (Score:5, Interesting)
You mean the people who shelled out $12,000 to $15,000 several years ago based on hype and still haven't seen anything they've paid for? Or the people who recently shelled out $8,000 for the same "feature" which doesn't exist while all those other people don't get a refund? Or the people who keep saying it's just around the corner year after year?
That's not the definition of invenstment. That's called scamming.
That this seemingly obvious marketing fraud exists is not surprising. Companies have been selling snake oil for a very long time. The truly surprising thing is that the government allows this fraud to continue. "Autopilot" doesn't mean the commonly understand vernacular "on autopilot", and "full-self driving" doesn't mean Level 3. Oh, and the other surprising thing is that supposedly educated and non-poor people continue to pay lots of money for this. Musk really is brilliant for getting people to pay so much money for Level 2+.
One thing Musk truly understands is that the future of Tesla and his tons of money does in fact depend on the achievement of Level 3 and beyond. As an EV company, Tesla does not deserve its current capitalization because the total addressable market has stagnated while Tesla market share is steadily decreasing due to Chinese competition.
SAE Level 4 (Score:3)
Motional worked with Hyundai to create fully autonomous (SAE Level 4) [sae.org] Ioniq 5 robotaxis that are currently operating [motional.com] in Las Vegas [motional.com].