Tekcapital (TEK ), an intellectual property investment group, updated markets on its wholly-owned portfolio company Guident, which is developing remote monitoring and control software to improve the safety of autonomous vehicles, as well as regenerative shock absorber systems to improve EV efficiency.
Tekcapital noted that in 2023 so far, Guident has seen increased interest from prospective partners and customers, reflected in its growing sales pipeline. Guident recently agreed an R&D roadmap for 2023, including a newly defined order process and product names for its abovementioned Remote Monitoring and Control Center (RMCC) and Regenerative Shock Absorber (RSA) solutions.
Guident is on schedule to deploy its RMCC service for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and expects the first purchase order from the contract shortly. Its management visited JTA in February and defined actions for the deployment of the company's RMCC by May 2023.
Additionally, Guident has signed a letter of intent with Auve Tech, a developer of autonomous transportation systems, to deploy turn-key solutions using its teleoperation software, to be included with Auve Tech's level-4 autonomous vehicles in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Guident is also finalising its contract with the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC) to provide autonomous vehicle shuttle services.
Lastly, the company has partnered with Novelsat to provide space connectivity for AVs under the Space Florida project. The partnership should give Guident a competitive advantage over systems that rely on terrestrial connectivity only by adding an always-on, low earth orbit monitoring solution for its remote monitoring and control centres.
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Guident remains on track to monitise its disruptive R&D this year. Both its technologies - remote monitoring (RMCC) and regenerative shock absorbers (RSA) - have proven valuable to autonomous electric vehicle systems, as evidenced by the list of partnerships detailed above. Markets welcomed today's update, sending TEK shares up 5% in early trading.
Guident's RMCC technology features a cloud-based software solution that links operators to autonomous vehicle (AV) fleets. Guident's solution is AV agnostic and can interact with any vehicle's drive-by-wire system via a robot operating system (ROS) or API. The remote-control center consists of multiple operator stations equipped with full vehicle controls, including steering wheel, accelerator, stop pedals, as well as HD curved monitor displays. Operators continuously monitor their assigned AV fleets in case they need to intervene in certain edge cases.
Automated supervision and safety driver roles will be critical for decades for all levels of vehicle automation before reaching full autonomy SAE level 5. RMCC-type technology is quickly becoming a legal requirement in several US states and other countries. All types of vehicles can benefit from the technology, including passenger road vehicles, agricultural equipment, mining equipment, and unmanned military vehicles.
According to Triton Market Research, "the last mile AV autonomous vehicle delivery market is expected to reach $41.7 billion by 2028 with a CAGR of 19%". Contactless delivery has been in high demand since the Covid-19 pandemic, which Guident believes will accelerate the rollout of land-based delivery drones where its Remote Monitor and Control Center (RMCC) system can shine.
In addition, Guident continues development of its Regenerative Shock Absorber (RSA) technology that converts more of an EV's motion into electrical energy, extending range. Regenerative braking is a well-known technology, however Guident's system harnesses energy from shock absorbers. "With precise force and displacement measurements, we aim to demonstrate the advantages of the modern energy-harvesting shock absorber over traditional oil-filled shock absorbers", the company has said.
Its RSA technology can make all vehicles more sustainable, including ICE, hybrid, and EVs. It increases the energy harvesting efficiency by c. 70% over existing energy-harvesting shock absorbers, and can deliver extra EV range of 6-12 miles per charge.
Guident is quickly establishing itself as a leader in advanced AV control systems. In November, the company was selected to provide autonomous shuttle services in Boca Raton, Florida. And in Northern Florida, Guident was chosen in May 2022 as vendor to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. Jacksonville is the largest city in Florida and the largest by area in the contiguous US.
Guident has so far filed for 8 patents in the US, and its value has increased steadily since Tekcapital's initial investment in 1H 2018, reaching £20m in just 4 years:
Tekcapital owns 100% of Guident.
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