Autonomous driving, what will Microsoft do with Gatik?
Microsoft aims to invest 10 million in Gatik, an American startup that makes deliveries with self-driving vehicles. It is not the only Big Tech interested in this technology. All the details
Microsoft wants to expand further into the autonomous driving sector?
According to the revelations of Reuters , in fact, Microsoft would be close to investing in Gatik, a US startup that deals with autonomous driving, as part of its partnership with the company on cloud computing technologies.
10 MILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT
The agency's sources said Microsoft aims to invest more than $10 million in a funding round from Gatik, the valuation of which would exceed $700 million. The agreement – the terms of which could change, however – foresees that Gatik will use Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform, for the development of its self-driving technology for trucks.
Neither Microsoft nor Gatik have commented.
NOT JUST MICROSOFT
Microsoft has already funded other self-driving technologies: in January 2021, for example, it invested in Cruise, a General Motors-owned company specializing in self-driving taxis valued at $30 billion. Like – possibly – Gatik, Cruise will also rely on Azure.
Microsoft, however, isn't the only major tech company to invest in autonomous driving: Alphabet (Google's parent company) owns its own company, Waymo; and Amazon bought Zoox in 2020 for more than $1 billion. Dealing with robotaxis , both Waymo and Zoox are competitors of Cruise.
THE PROBLEMS OF AUTONOMOUS DRIVING
Self-driving technologies promise to revolutionize the transportation and logistics industries, but have proven complex to develop and struggle to gain approvals from regulators, often concerned about safety.
Last November, automakers Ford and Volkswagen agreed to ditch their self-driving unit, Argo AI, arguing that creating driverless robotaxis is "more difficult than putting a man on the moon."
– Read also: Does autonomous driving send car manufacturers crashing?
WHAT GATIK DOES
Gatik was founded in 2017 by Gautam Narang and Arjun Narang. Its main industry is middle-mile transportation for the retail industry. In logistics jargon, the term middle-mile indicates the stretch that covers the movement of goods from the factory or port to the warehouse or distribution center.
Since 2021, Gatik has launched commercial driverless delivery services with retail chains Walmart and Loblaw Companies. Specifically, Gatik performs short-haul truck deliveries in Arkansas (United States) and Ontario (Canada).
THE INVESTORS
Gatik has raised more than $120 million from investors such as Goodyear Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Innovation Endeavors and RyderVentures.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/guida-autonoma-cosa-fara-microsoft-con-gatik/ on Thu, 05 Jan 2023 06:15:32 +0000.