GCITekcapital’s Guident enters strategic alliance with Perrone Robotics
Guident, a portfolio company of the technology-focused investment firm (TEK ) has entered into a strategic alliance Perrone Robotics, an autonomous vehicle software provider.
Tekcapital’s Guident, in which the Company owns 100% interest, is a developer of software solutions tailored towards the remote monitoring and teleoperation of autonomous vehicles.
The objective of the alliance with Perrone Robotics, which provides autonomous vehicle kits and full autonomy software, is to seamlessly integrate Guident’s remote monitoring and teleoperation solution (RMCC) with Perrone’s TONY AV kit for highly automated vehicles.
This is because the scalable deployment of safe, reliable AVs requires ‘a fast, reliable network coupled with low-latency, remote monitoring and control software, to facilitate fleet level management of multiple, concurrently operating AVs,’ the Company explained to investors.
Guident believes the integrated solution from both companies will mean that municipalities as well as other fleet operators will be able to provide testing environments and commercially deploy Level-4 autonomy AV shuttles across a wide variety and quantity of vehicles.
As a result, the strategic alliance is a key milestone for both companies as they seek to seamlessly enhance the scalable deployment of safe and reliable AV transport, it noted.
According to data from Allied Market Research, the global autonomous vehicle market is expected to reach $556 billion by 2026 with a CAGR of 39%. One of the biggest driving factors is the rise in demand for contactless or “touch-free” delivery due to the pandemic.
Guident believes this rising demand will accelerate the roll-out of land-based delivery drones for people, and a wide variety of products to improve mobility and reduce delivery costs.
Commenting on the strategic alliance, Paul Perrone, Chief Executive of Perrone Robotics, stated: “We are really excited to partner with Guident to incorporate their remote monitoring and control software into vehicles equipped with our TONY full autonomous driver kit.”
He added: “As we are now addressing client demands for fleet level operations of multiple vehicles, and driverless operations, bringing remote monitoring and teleoperation controls to operations becomes a key element for scale. Together, Guident and Perrone Robotics are able to bring scalable fleet-level autonomous vehicle operations to clients for the first time.”
Harald Braun, Executive Chairman of Guident, commented: “We believe this strategic alliance will be a significant step towards the adoption of autonomous vehicles for municipalities.
He added: “Perrone’s TONY AV kit coupled with Guident’s RMCC is a turn-key solution for any municipality seeking vehicle independent, automated transit of people and goods in geo-fenced and localized operations.” Both Guident and Perrone Robotics will be exhibiting their integration solution at Comotion Miami later this month on 20 and 21 April 2022.
Earlier this month, Guident noted that it had filed its 8th patent application covering improvements to its remote monitoring and control centre for autonomous vehicles.
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Despite significant headwinds due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first half of 2021 to 31 May 2021 saw a 56% increase in the Net Asset Value “NAV” of Tekcapital to $51.1m, delivering revenue of $14.5m (1H20; $2.9m) and pre-tax rofit Before Tax of $13.0m (1H20: $1.9m).
With Guident representing Tekcapital’s largest holding on its balance sheet, investors can expect any positive developments in 2022 to substantially uplift the company’s overall NAV.
As of 31 May 2021, the total fair value for Guident remained unchanged from 30 November 2020 at $22.05m. As of 31 May 2020, its net asset value stood at $15.511m. Over the five six-month periods to 31 May 2021, the fair Value of Guident has seen a CAGR of circa 21%.
Earlier this month, Guident noted that it had filed its 8th patent application covering improvements to its remote monitoring and control centre for autonomous vehicles.
In 2022 and beyond, Guident hopes to capitalise off the $42bn market opportunity of the last mile autonomous vehicle delivery market that it sees as having positive regulatory drivers.
One catalyst of this market is the pending US legal framework; in fact, Florida has already passed a law making human remote monitoring for AVs obligatory when a driver is not present.
Guident said it believes this legislation forms “a critical path” that will enable the commercial introduction of AVs in Florida; as a result, it is likely to be required in other jurisdictions.
Guident’s initial goal, therefore, is to develop and operate the first Remote Monitoring and Control Centre for ground-based delivery drones and AVs in Florida where this law applies.
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