SMALL CAP SHARE IDEAS: Seeing Machines

On Monday, January 9, we watched in awe as the first-ever orbital rocket lifted off British soil. European soil in general actually.

Cosmic Girl, a repurposed Boeing 747, left Newquay Airport with a cargo of British-made satellites on board that could be used for everything from weather mapping to monitoring illegal fishing.

Unfortunately, Cosmic Girl was unable to get into orbit due to an as-yet-unspecified technical glitch, but make no mistake: Britain has officially joined the Space Race.

Closer to the ground, another revolution is taking place in the form of a burgeoning self-driving car industry.

Last week, British self-driving software start-up Oxbotica successfully raised £115 million in a Series C funding round with investment from some notable venture capital funds.

Japanese insurer Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, the VC arm of Japan’s oil refinery Eneos and Chinese giant Tencent joined the round in IP Group plc’s portfolio business.

The fact that Ocado is another Oxbotica mainstay indicates where the self-driving industry is headed.

While hearing the phrase “self-driving” might conjure up images of sentient Teslas whizzing through the city, the technology is likely to find wider adoption in heavy industry, warehouse handling, construction, and even the mining sector.

It’s not hard to imagine AI-powered cranes and forklifts driving around a development site, although it will invariably spark a heated debate about the human cost of redundancy as automation becomes more and more embedded in our lives (here we look at you ChatGPT).

Today’s investors can explore tomorrow’s technology by investing in AIM-listed, Australian-based self-driving innovator See machines.

Seeing Machines, which company broker Cenkos recently said deserves a unicorn rating, has a technology stack consisting of AI algorithms and vision-based monitoring technology that allow machines to see, understand and help people.

Earlier this month, the group announced the successful integration of its in-cabin monitoring system technology (ICMS) with Omnivision’s OAX4600 system-on-chip (SoC) integrated circuit platform for semiconductor solutions.

If that sounds confusing, here’s something easier to chew on: Seeing Machines continues to sign repeat contracts with leading global automakers (which must remain confidential for now).

In an industry as overbearingly regulated as the auto industry, where the lives of billions are at stake, the offsetting of repeat contracts is a huge green flag.

In November 2022, Seeing Machines revealed the extent of adoption of its technology.

In the first quarter of 2022 alone, more than half a million cars equipped with the company’s technology hit the road, representing a year-over-year growth of 204 percent, or 25 percent quarter-over-quarter.

“Our technology is well entrenched as a market leader and it shows in the momentum we’re seeing in our transactions and, more importantly, the numbers,” CEO Paul McGlone said at the time, adding: “It’s great to have cars on the road to see, equipped with our technology.’

Even more impressive is the fact that it excels where many larger companies have stumbled.

In October 2022, Ford pulled the plug on its support for the multibillion-dollar Argo AI self-driving car project.

“We are optimistic about a future for L4 ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems), but profitable fully autonomous vehicles at scale are a long way off and we don’t necessarily have to create that technology ourselves,” said CEO Jim Farley. .

As for seeing machines, its share price currently sits at 6.77p with a market cap of £281m.

That unicorn valuation would suggest a 3.

5x premium to the current market price.

There will be speed bumps for the self-driving sector along the way. The UK does not currently allow self-driving vehicles on the road without a supervising driver, although that could change in the coming years.

According to the UK government, 8,000 new jobs could be created in the UK from a forecast £42bn industry, and plans for a 2025 rollout of self-driving vehicles are currently under safety consultations.

Knowing the creaking wheels of the bureaucracy, there is a good chance that this rollout will be pushed back.

Also, as UBS analysts said, “The likelihood of a scenario in which average passenger cars become robotaxis has decreased significantly,” although the autonomous driving technology that can turn heads a la Seeing Machines seems to be fading fast. expand.

“That’s because regulators and automakers alike understand that driver tracking systems will bridge the gap between today’s vehicles, where the driver is still in control, and tomorrow’s fully autonomous cars,” McGlone explains.

Competition in the emerging sector is increasing.

Nasdaq-listed companies Aeye and Aeva, Israel’s Opsys Technologies, and US start-ups SiLC Technologies and OWL Autonomous Imaging are all developing their own self-driving protocols, but the price is such that there will certainly be plenty of room for innovators to thrive.