Tekcapital Plc (AIM: TEK ), has announced Guident has strengthened its management team with several senior appointments and made significant progress in the development of its intellectual property portfolio. 

Guident, the wholly owned portfolio company of TEK commercialising the utility and safety of autonomous vehicles and drones through the application of its proprietary IP, has made several senior appointments with valuable experience for the development of Autonomous Vehicle (“AV”) technologies. 
 
Senior Appointments

Chairman and CEO - Harald Braun 
Harold has previously served as CEO of Siemens Networks USA (NYSE: SI) and Aviat Networks (NASDAQ: AVNW). He has also served as a Senior Executive at Nokia Siemens Networks, North America.  

Chief Revenue Officer - Daniel Grossman 
Daniel previously helped to create the General Motors mobility division, “Maven”, where he led operations as COO. David was also Vice President at Zipcar, where he helped pioneer the brand globally. David currently serves on the board of Guident. 

Technology Development – Michael Tank and Gadriel Castaneda 
Additionally, the Company has strengthened it technology stack development team with the appointment of Michael Trank as VP Software Development and Dr. Gabriel Castaneda as Lead Architect for Artificial Intelligence software. 
 

Increasing Patent Portfolio

Guident has also announced it has received a ‘Notice of Allowance’ from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) for its patent application # 16/386,530 entitled “Methods and Systems for Emergency Handoff of an Autonomous Vehicle”. Receipt of the ‘Notice of Allowance’ means that the USPTO has determined that the patent application is complete and meets all the requirements for patent approval and patent will be issued as long as the Company fulfils the requirements of the Notice of Allowance and Fee(s) Due.

Furthermore, Guidant has filed an additional patent entitled, “Intelligent Remote Monitoring and Control of Autonomous Vehicles.”

This brings Guident’s total IP portfolio to five intellectual properties, four of which have been allowed or granted. All of these patents are focused on improving the safety of AV’s and land-based delivery drones.

“We are very pleased to report our development progress in strengthening the team and the intellectual property of Guident. We believe autonomous, land-based delivery drones will likely be implemented in several markets in the U.S. and elsewhere in 2021 and we are readying the Company to provide patented software and remote monitoring and control services to enhance the safety of these vehicles and enable them to comply with local laws”, says Harald Braun, Chairman & CEO of Guident Ltd. 


 

AV Market Forecasts 

According to Allied Market Research “the autonomous vehicle (“AV”) market is expected to reach $556 billion by 2026 with a CAGR of 39%.1 Contactless or “touch-free” delivery is in high demand due to the COVID 19 pandemic.2,3

Guident believes this increased demand will accelerate the roll-out of land-based delivery drones for food and medicines to improve their availability and reduce the costs of these deliveries.

Dr Clifford Gross, Executive Chairman at Tekcapital, commented: “We are very glad to see the significant progress of Guident Ltd and we are confident they have the right leadership, strategy and intellectual property to make a meaningful contribution to the safety of AV’s and delivery drones.” 

References  
1 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/autonomous-vehicle-market  
2 https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-safely-order-food-delivery-takeout-and-groceries-during-coronavirus-quarantines/ 
3 https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/01/uber-eats-beefs-up-its-grocery-delivery-offer-as-covid-19-lockdowns-continue/