BRN Discussion Ongoing

[Sirod69]

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[Xhosa12345]

Once again a summary of information, I believe to be important, that has transpired on this discussion thread.

For new investors, 1000 eyes that may have missed it or those that are time poor and haven’t read all posts I have layed it out here for convenience.


Megachips is a BRN IP license holder.

They have paid for the Akida IP and can offer this IP to their customers for use in their products.

Megachips offered a presentation this week to their shareholders.

Here is the full presentation

https://pdf.irpocket.com/C6875/aG1f/lbpj/UtUa.pdf

from which 2 slides related to BRN are pasted below
View attachment 21748

View attachment 21749


Megachips have many customers, all can access BRN IP through the Chips, tools and software Megachips offers them.

Slide 2 above depict Megachips belief in relation to their projected growth leading into 2025.

It makes perfect sense that BRN royalties will align with the ‘Direction of growth’ Megachips have outlined for themselves.

This also ties in with the BRN financial reports the CEO has told us to look out for.

During this ‘Business launch’ phase Megachips outlines, there is little cash generation, BRN is beginning commercialisation and BRN get lumpy licensing fees appearing in the 4C.

When ‘Volume production’ occurs, BRN will receive the more steady and exponentially growing royalty stream from the Megachip customer relations.



ARM is a BRN partner

ARMs podcast today gives some more insight into potential future growth.

ARM has been operating for 30 years, there engagement speeds up the process for companies wishing to bring a product to the IoT market whilst ensuring they meet the required standards.



ARM sold 230 billion chips since inception

Imagine for a minute, if you will, knowing that AKIDA is unique and the global Standard for edge AI or will be soon according to the CEO, that AKIDA is added to only one quarter of the ARM chips sold.

Add to that imagination that the royalty paid to BRN is a mere 20c per chip. That my dear chippers will mean BRN could have collected a measly 11.5 billion from ARM customer base alone, over the last 30 years.



If we use ARMs last quarter (7.4billion chips) lets round to 28 billion per year, with the above numbers in use, (i.e 25% of the total chips produced use Akida and a 20c royalty for each), BRN get paid 1.4 billion in royalties per year from ARM customers alone.

What we don’t know is:

Will the royalty be a fixed price, if so how much per item or

Will the royalty be a % price of the item sold.

The 20c per item selected for the above calcs is a VERY small number.


Here is what ARM do

https://www.arm.com/company/on-arm



Who is using ARM ecosystems according to the podcast today?
https://youtu.be/SJ6SnD7ZOwc?t=545

Silicone partners, Cloud service providers (Amazon and Oracle)

Software Tool providers (GitHub and GitLab) to name a few


Why would ARM customers use BRN IP in their chips?

Kevin Ryan: said this about the partnership:

Our partnership solves some very specific use cases we see in the IoT market.

It gives the ecosystem the ability to scale.

He encourages customers to go to the ARM catalogue to learn about partners and solutions for their needs.

Chippers have already seen this but it does highlight the ubiquitous nature of our tech.

Go here to check out partners in the ARM catalogue, count the number of ‘Use Cases’ in which Brainchip is offered as a suitable partner to work on a solution.

View attachment 21750



An easier way of making this comparison is; from the same location enter Brainchip in the search field and all use cases, products and Industry and tech that BRN is offered as suggested support in will appear. Compare this to the list when the search field is blank and you will see BRN is ubiquitously offered J

I have added Brainchip as a search parameter here for you



Im not doing this justice so you will need to investigate for yourself.

But in summary, just like Megachips the relationship BRN has with ARM is not fully recognised


I have outlined ideas generated from 2 of the BRN partners. All the others will have the same timelines for growth and exponential projections due to this being a disruptive tech.

All partners are faced with the same timeline and projections i.e Akida IP has been available for a short period of time, being so new, the partners customers have only recently had access to tools and programs to test and implement Akida IP in their products.

Sale of those newly tweaked products is just around the corner. Royalties follow soon after.

The CEO said watch the financials for this uptick in cash received to give an indication of growth.

Once the royalties flow they will be more stable and I dare say higher year on year for some time and BRNs original image depicting sales seems very similar to Megachips projections, only difference is that BRN have multiple partners workign on adding to the cash flow graphic.
View attachment 21751


Thanks for each of the chippers that contributed to peices of this post.

Megachips only posted a few slides on what they are up to, JUST A FEW

And we are heavily featured

Check megachips revenue (convert to aud) ... and they bothered to mention us in their preso, with ALL they fukn have going on.....

Just saying....

Not imo, this is fact

Happy weekend all, gamble responsibly....

 

[Dhm]

Big question: why isn’t ARM on our webpage list of trusted partners.

FF get on to your contacts and remedy this injustice.

 

[Rach2512]

Big question: why isn’t ARM on our webpage list of trusted partners.

FF get on to your contacts and remedy this injustice.

 

[Realinfo]

Lies…and bloody lies !!

At school I was proficient, and not a member of the A Forms. The only prize I ever collected on the numerous Speech Day‘s I attended was the Parents and Friends Essay prize. This encouraged me to write, and upon leaving school I was fortunate enough to win one of the few cadetships on The Advertiser…South Australia’s morning broadsheet.

In the late 60’s, budding journos didn’t go to uni to get a degree in communications or the like, they had to win a Cadetship from a media organisation. As with most apprenticeships, this entitled them to enjoy all the most rudimentary jobs. However, each cadet was assigned a mentor, and I was lucky enough to get Des, one of the ‘Tisers most highly regarded Features writers.

Des was a good mate of Max, a Contributing writer for the paper. Each Thursday evening they would get together at the Criterion, the paper’s watering hole. Occasionally they would be joined by a colleague from The News, Adelaide’s evening tabloid. I was invited to attend for the sole reason of fetching the next round, but it afforded me the opportunity to listen in on the lively conversation. Des and Max we’re old school journos, who did everything by the book…to only commit to paper something that was properly researched and accurate. Their colleague used to mock them for this, saying whatever it took to sell newspapers…his name was Rupert.

Like the SMH, the Age and other state morning broadsheets back then, The Advertiser was a highly successful family owned newspaper that dined out on classified advertising known as ‘the rivers of gold’. They were able to afford the best journos and writers, and allow them the time to produce well researched stories.

That era has passed, and as we’re all aware newspapers, in fact all traditional mainstream media are struggling to stay afloat. The fallout of this is poorly trained journos with little time for research, being pressured to present controversial stories…the more sensational the better to increase ratings or circulation in order to survive.

Added to this, they now have to compete with the totally unregulated, irresponsible, often defamatory world that is social media.

As Rupert would say to Des and Max…whatever it takes to sell newspapers.

If you can accept the above, it will help you understand why we get what we do from such esteemed financial publications as MF, the AFR et al. Of course there is no excuse for this, but don’t get your knicker’s in a twist… it’s just a sign of the times.

Btw…scalability has been raised in recent posts. You may find this hard to believe after I berated Lou and his fellow board members who attended the 2018 AGM, but we actually struck up a friendship of sorts. At a lunch we had, I recall him saying that the lack of scalability was a major reason why Studio was shelved.

 

[Proga]

I have been thinking back to when shareholders were advised about the ARM Brainchip partnership and the lack of reaction to the announcement by the market when compared with what happened when Mercedes Benz dropped it was working with Brainchip.

The usual suspects all attacked both reveals on social media, share blogs and in the financial press so these attacks cannot be the sole reason why ARM did not rate.

When you weigh the respective merits of an engagement with ARM verses Mercedes Benz it is very easy to conclude which in a commercial sense makes the most commercial sense:

Mercedes Benz- arguably greatest automotive vehicle maker of all time producing up to about 3.5 million automobiles in a good year with up to 300 semi conductors required in EV form;

2. ARM sold over 7 billion semiconductors in its last quarter, supplies 90% of the chips in mobile phones, supplies chips to every industry known to man at volume and is considered so strategically important by the UK, the USA, China, Google, Amazon, Intel and Samsung that a proposed takeover by Nvidia was outlawed.

If you have not listened yet to yesterdays ARM Brainchip podcast make it your mission to listen not once but at least five times in the coming couple of weeks.

Why five times? Well Research has proven that if you hear something five times you are at extreme risk of NOT forgetting it.

Over the coming months I expect with some certainty that the negative ear worms are going to be running at full steam across all the media.

@stan9614 was doing battle yesterday in another place with one of the more adept wolves in sheep clothing who was peddling lies again and charts trying to enhance their trading position.

The markets may have yawned when the ARM Brainchip partnership was announced but that is absolutely no reason for you to go to sleep.

If Mercedes Benz justified a jump to $2.34 what stored value has ARM added.

Consider this further fact. ARM has a number one engineering firm SUCCESSFULLY driving its uptake across industry to the tune of over 7 billion chips last quarter.

That number one firm is Edge Impulse who is now fully Brainchip AKIDA Meta TF adopted and driving ARM Brainchip AKIDA solutions to industry via its over 55,000 Engineer developers.

Just because the ASX failed to react on mass it does not mean the institutional sharks missed the importance of the ARM Brainchip partnership. They most certainly know and understand.

Why does MF never mention this partnership? Call me a whatever but by not mentioning it the market does not hear ARM Brainchip partnership five times and start to remember it.

If the market does not remember it then when ARM kicks goals Brainchip does not come to mind among the masses.

Hold tight to your knowledge that the ARM Brainchip partnership is more significant in raw market penetration terms than any other engagement to date.

My opinion only DYOR
FF

AKIDA BALLISTA

I agree, ARM will be a significant player in market penetration for BRN along with a few others. The difference in market reaction with MB was because MB had it working in an application (EQXX) and confirmed the Akida technology. The gloss came off because of the lag time between using it in a concept car and a production car (revenue) which most retail investors don't realise. Most had stars in their eyes of revenue pouring in and becoming rich overnight.

The market sees BRN as being just one of many ARM partners so will sit back and watch for any developments (revenue) to come out of the partnership. Once a few do or from other partners, it will be the catalyst for the stock to be rerate. I have another stock going through the rerating process now which should have happened IMO 6-12 months ago. However, in these volatile times, the market is a lot more cautious than pre-covid and wants to see certainty, so I remained patient and waited for the catalyst. It was also going through its own trying times with lumpy revenue but didn't become distracted with all the noise like BRN is doing with investing for the future. It is now handsomely paying off.

BRN's time is coming. The catalyst is probably no more than 12-18 months away. I'm still hoping something might pop out from left field but the odds have lengthened with the decline in smaller companies enthusiasm in bringing a new cutting edge application to market due to the current economic conditions. This isn't surprising but I believe some will continue to push on. There are a lot out there.

You once said not long back you don't understand why anybody would invest in BRN if they don't understand the tech or the company. Obviously MF don't and aren't so no point getting hung-up about what they write. It's water off a ducks back. They said sell, I bought. Happy days.

I used to get annoyed with negative ear worms () until I realised how little difference they make on a stocks price in the medium to long term. The insto's own the market. We just play around their feet. As BRN moves further into commercialisation the yapping will die down and they'll move on. It has with my other stock but you still get the occasional squeak from a blow-in. Some just can't help themselves. It's hilarious and they disappear just as quick.

Semiconductors are small, but crucial pieces of technology fitted within many systems in all new vehicles – with between 300 (ICE) and 3000 (BEV) used in each new car, depending on its size and features. During his remarks, Biden said the average electric vehicle uses about 3,000 chips, meaning EV will need more than double the amount of what's in a non-electric car. I think this is the 4th time I've pointed this out

 

[Foxdog]

Lies…and bloody lies !!

At school I was proficient, and not a member of the A Forms. The only prize I ever collected on the numerous Speech Day‘s I attended was the Parents and Friends Essay prize. This encouraged me to write, and upon leaving school I was fortunate enough to win one of the few cadetships on The Advertiser…South Australia’s morning broadsheet.

In the late 60’s, budding journos didn’t go to uni to get a degree in communications or the like, they had to win a Cadetship from a media organisation. As with most apprenticeships, this entitled them to enjoy all the most rudimentary jobs. However, each cadet was assigned a mentor, and I was lucky enough to get Des, one of the ‘Tisers most highly regarded Features writers.

Des was a good mate of Max, a Contributing writer for the paper. Each Thursday evening they would get together at the Criterion, the paper’s watering hole. Occasionally they would be joined by a colleague from The News, Adelaide’s evening tabloid. I was invited to attend for the sole reason of fetching the next round, but it afforded me the opportunity to listen in on the lively conversation. Des and Max we’re old school journos, who did everything by the book…to only commit to paper something that was properly researched and accurate. Their colleague used to mock them for this, saying whatever it took to sell newspapers…his name was Rupert.

Like the SMH, the Age and other state morning broadsheets back then, The Advertiser was a highly successful family owned newspaper that dined out on classified advertising known as ‘the rivers of gold’. They were able to afford the best journos and writers, and allow them the time to produce well researched stories.

That era has passed, and as we’re all aware newspapers, in fact all traditional mainstream media are struggling to stay afloat. The fallout of this is poorly trained journos with little time for research, being pressured to present controversial stories…the more sensational the better to increase ratings or circulation in order to survive.

Added to this, they now have to compete with the totally unregulated, irresponsible, often defamatory world that is social media.

As Rupert would say to Des and Max…whatever it takes to sell newspapers.

If you can accept the above, it will help you understand why we get what we do from such esteemed financial publications as MF, the AFR et al. Of course there is no excuse for this, but don’t get your knicker’s in a twist… it’s just a sign of the times.

Btw…scalability has been raised in recent posts. You may find this hard to believe after I berated Lou and his fellow board members who attended the 2018 AGM, but we actually struck up a friendship of sorts. At a lunch we had, I recall him saying that the lack of scalability was a major reason why Studio was shelved.

What a wonderfully diverse group we are. I'll throw Air Traffic Controller into the mix and no I can't get cheap flights for you, or even myself

 

[Dhm]

I understand that but I am talking the front page. Together with the other heavy hitters

 

[charles2]

What a wonderfully diverse group we are. I'll throw Air Traffic Controller into the mix and no I can't get cheap flights for you, or even myself

A quick mini feel good. In the US market (BRCHF) there was a bid for around 200k that raised its bid as the day progressed. Wasn't filled (yet) but I mention this because it is extremely rare to see a bid this large here. Just some ammo for those wanting to see evidence that the low MAY be in.
Cheers

 

[Dr E Brown]

Anybody shine any light on the fact we don’t have a CMO rather a part time strategy and marketing advisor?

 

[Xray1]

The title is the same as one previously released in the USA by the FDA so just the Australian version. @Diogenese will confirm.

My opinion only DYOR
FF

AKIDA BALLISTA

I presume that patent grant was for the Akida 1.0 .................... so will a new patent grant be required for say the Akida 2.0 ??????????? !!!!!!!!!!

 

[Xray1]

Just gunna leave this here.......

Toyota, Sony and other major firms join forces to manufacture chips in Japan

The move coincides with a worldwide chip shortage that has affected industries ranging from automaking to appliance production.

www.japantimes.co.jp

If I recall correctly, at the last AGM a s/holder asked some direct questions about things going on with Japan's potential involvement with BRN. ?? !!! maybe someone can recall what the Co's responses to same were.

 

[Fenris78]

I'm sure everyone has seen this... but I missed it. A very good interview with our CEO (circa 3 weeks ago).. discussing corporate strategy and ecosystem partners like ARM. I found it very interesting at about the 2min 40 sec mark... anyway, for anyone else that missed it FYI:

 

[Dang Son]

Hi @Foxdog
Do you think Air Traffic Control could be a use case for AKIDA , interfaced with radar ( or whatever ) to monitor aircraft positions as a safety backup?
Possibly a use case on remote Coastal Surveillance in Border Security ?

 

[Foxdog]

Hi @Foxdog
Do you think Air Traffic Control could be a use case for AKIDA , interfaced with radar ( or whatever ) to monitor aircraft positions as a safety backup?
Possibly a use case on remote Coastal Surveillance in Border Security ?

Absolutely - particularly with the emergence of UAV's (drones) and air taxis soon to be a thing etc. I imagine AKIDA could be used to ensure/monitor unauthorised entry into controlled airspace or the within the vicinity of arrival and departure paths at airports - spotting operators that ATC are unaware of for instance. The aviation industry relies heavily on technology to function so there would be numerous, if not countless, opportunities here. It applies to both ends too - AKIDA in the airborne vehicle and also in the ground based facility. Set it up successfully with one Air Traffic Service Provider and the rest of the world would follow.
Airservices Australia (our national ATC provider) is in the process of introducing a joint Civil and Military platform so now could be an opportune time to knock on the door, so to speak. Check out the link below: https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/about-us/innovation-and-technology/onesky/

 

[Fact Finder]

I agree, ARM will be a significant player in market penetration for BRN along with a few others. The difference in market reaction with MB was because MB had it working in an application (EQXX) and confirmed the Akida technology. The gloss came off because of the lag time between using it in a concept car and a production car (revenue) which most retail investors don't realise. Most had stars in their eyes of revenue pouring in and becoming rich overnight.

The market sees BRN as being just one of many ARM partners so will sit back and watch for any developments (revenue) to come out of the partnership. Once a few do or from other partners, it will be the catalyst for the stock to be rerate. I have another stock going through the rerating process now which should have happened IMO 6-12 months ago. However, in these volatile times, the market is a lot more cautious than pre-covid and wants to see certainty, so I remained patient and waited for the catalyst. It was also going through its own trying times with lumpy revenue but didn't become distracted with all the noise like BRN is doing with investing for the future. It is now handsomely paying off.

BRN's time is coming. The catalyst is probably no more than 12-18 months away. I'm still hoping something might pop out from left field but the odds have lengthened with the decline in smaller companies enthusiasm in bringing a new cutting edge application to market due to the current economic conditions. This isn't surprising but I believe some will continue to push on. There are a lot out there.

You once said not long back you don't understand why anybody would invest in BRN if they don't understand the tech or the company. Obviously MF don't and aren't so no point getting hung-up about what they write. It's water off a ducks back. They said sell, I bought. Happy days.

I used to get annoyed with negative ear worms () until I realised how little difference they make on a stocks price in the medium to long term. The insto's own the market. We just play around their feet. As BRN moves further into commercialisation the yapping will die down and they'll move on. It has with my other stock but you still get the occasional squeak from a blow-in. Some just can't help themselves. It's hilarious and they disappear just as quick.

Semiconductors are small, but crucial pieces of technology fitted within many systems in all new vehicles – with between 300 (ICE) and 3000 (BEV) used in each new car, depending on its size and features. During his remarks, Biden said the average electric vehicle uses about 3,000 chips, meaning EV will need more than double the amount of what's in a non-electric car. I think this is the 4th time I've pointed this out

And probably the fiftieth time I and others have pointed out that at the 2019 AGM Peter van der Made stated that the AKD1000 will be so powerful that nine will be all that is required to process all the sensors in an autonomous vehicle and you would only need 100 AKD1000 to do all the computing for full AV.

So referencing 300 in my post is actually about 200 more than Peter van der Made stated would be needed if AKIDA technology was fully implemented.

So no matter how one breaks the numbers down in raw dollars and cents the ARM Brainchip partnership offers an enormous commercial opportunity far exceeding anything Mercedes Benz can provide.

In fact ARM is also offering automotive and lists Brainchip AKIDA for automotive applications. In that context Mercedes Benz is a subset of opportunity within an opportunity category at ARM. - (Think about this everyone Mercedes Benz is but one manufacturer in one category of use being promoted for Brainchip AKIDA by ARM & Edge Impulse - where is the brass band and marching people)

@Dhm you have raised another important point of difference. ARM is listed as a partner of Brainchip and openly promotes this partnership on its website, in advertising and in podcasts.

Brainchip openly promotes ARM as a partner on its website, in interviews and in podcasts.

Mercedes Benz is on the Brainchip website as a ‘Trusted By’ relationship about which Brainchip cannot speak.

By ARM being described as a partner it actually says far more than being described as ‘Trusted By’ in my opinion.

My opinion only DYOR
FF

AKIDA BALLISTA

 

[hamilton66]

Lies…and bloody lies !!

At school I was proficient, and not a member of the A Forms. The only prize I ever collected on the numerous Speech Day‘s I attended was the Parents and Friends Essay prize. This encouraged me to write, and upon leaving school I was fortunate enough to win one of the few cadetships on The Advertiser…South Australia’s morning broadsheet.

In the late 60’s, budding journos didn’t go to uni to get a degree in communications or the like, they had to win a Cadetship from a media organisation. As with most apprenticeships, this entitled them to enjoy all the most rudimentary jobs. However, each cadet was assigned a mentor, and I was lucky enough to get Des, one of the ‘Tisers most highly regarded Features writers.

Des was a good mate of Max, a Contributing writer for the paper. Each Thursday evening they would get together at the Criterion, the paper’s watering hole. Occasionally they would be joined by a colleague from The News, Adelaide’s evening tabloid. I was invited to attend for the sole reason of fetching the next round, but it afforded me the opportunity to listen in on the lively conversation. Des and Max we’re old school journos, who did everything by the book…to only commit to paper something that was properly researched and accurate. Their colleague used to mock them for this, saying whatever it took to sell newspapers…his name was Rupert.

Like the SMH, the Age and other state morning broadsheets back then, The Advertiser was a highly successful family owned newspaper that dined out on classified advertising known as ‘the rivers of gold’. They were able to afford the best journos and writers, and allow them the time to produce well researched stories.

That era has passed, and as we’re all aware newspapers, in fact all traditional mainstream media are struggling to stay afloat. The fallout of this is poorly trained journos with little time for research, being pressured to present controversial stories…the more sensational the better to increase ratings or circulation in order to survive.

Added to this, they now have to compete with the totally unregulated, irresponsible, often defamatory world that is social media.

As Rupert would say to Des and Max…whatever it takes to sell newspapers.

If you can accept the above, it will help you understand why we get what we do from such esteemed financial publications as MF, the AFR et al. Of course there is no excuse for this, but don’t get your knicker’s in a twist… it’s just a sign of the times.

Btw…scalability has been raised in recent posts. You may find this hard to believe after I berated Lou and his fellow board members who attended the 2018 AGM, but we actually struck up a friendship of sorts. At a lunch we had, I recall him saying that the lack of scalability was a major reason why Studio was shelved.

R, I loved this post. My brother is a career sports journalist, and my cousin headed up sales at 1 of the major Oz tv stations for 20 odd yrs. Have a beer with either of these 2, and get them going on the lack of research, honesty, and loyalty vs the almighty $, and u'll wind up with a sore ear. Both very decent, principled men. 1 retired early, in total disgust of the ruthlessness of the tv industry. To this day, reading a newspaper is something I regard as a daily essential. U just have to pick the right one. I'm an old Adelaide boy, now living in Melbourne for 30+ yrs. Love Adelaide, and go back regularly, but the Adelaide Advertiser? I reckon 1 of the worst papers in OZ! GLTA, and always DYOR.

 

[Fact Finder]

I presume that patent grant was for the Akida 1.0 .................... so will a new patent grant be required for say the Akida 2.0 ??????????? !!!!!!!!!!

Hi @Xray1

I personally have no doubt that there will be a patent already filed by Peter van der Made.

Timeline wise he completed the design late third quarter 2021.

Immediately the design was complete he would have been working with the two patent lawyers in Perth to finish drafting and settling the patent application which for security sake would have been lodged before sending the design to engineering at Brainchip USA.

It just makes sense as this gives a priority date before the points of vulnerability start to widen as more and more people have access to the design.

My opinion only DYOR
FF

AKIDA BALLISTA

 

[Dang Son]

Absolutely - particularly with the emergence of UAV's (drones) and air taxis soon to be a thing etc. I imagine AKIDA could be used to ensure/monitor unauthorised entry into controlled airspace or the within the vicinity of arrival and departure paths at airports - spotting operators that ATC are unaware of for instance. The aviation industry relies heavily on technology to function so there would be numerous, if not countless, opportunities here. It applies to both ends too - AKIDA in the airborne vehicle and also in the ground based facility. Set it up successfully with one Air Traffic Service Provider and the rest of the world would follow.
Airservices Australia (our national ATC provider) is in the process of introducing a joint Civil and Military platform so now could be an opportune time to knock on the door, so to speak. Check out the link below: https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/about-us/innovation-and-technology/onesky/

Cheers FD, I sent your answer and the link through to IR@Brainchip.com

 

[chapman89]

Mercedes-Benz won’t follow Tesla into the robotaxi game

Level 3 instead of robotaxis.

www.theverge.com

​

Mercedes-Benz won’t follow Tesla into the robotaxi game​

/

According to chief technology officer Markus Schäfer, the German automaker is happy to build human-driven taxis and a Level 3 automated system where drivers can basically stop paying attention while on the highway​

By ROBERTO BALDWIN
Nov 3, 2022, 10:00 PM GMT+11

Share this story​

• 
  
• 
  

Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz CTO Markus Schäfer is energized by his visit to Silicon Valley. The executive is at the automaker’s Sunnyvale, California, research and development center to meet with his team and local tech companies.
FEATURED VIDEOS FROM THE VERGE

F-150 Lightning review: so fast, so slow​

“Very, very interesting discussions were had about potential partnerships in the future,” Schäfer tells The Verge as we sit down for a chat about the future of Mercedes-Benz. The company is in the midst of a supercharged transformation into an EV platform while working to become the first automaker to have a passenger vehicle for sale in the United States with Level 3 driver-assistance technology. The system allows the driver to not pay attention to the road or control the vehicle under very select circumstances — typically on the highway.

The company is in the midst of a supercharged transformation into an EV platform

It was another reason for Schäfer to make the trip to California. Mercedes wants to be able to launch its Drive Pilot feature in California, but making that a reality requires regulatory approval. The executive met with officials in Sacramento. The automaker’s goal is transparency with regulators and has gotten feedback from the DMV, California Highway Patrol, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the system.

Mercedes-Benz CTO Markus Schäfer is meeting with regulators about the company’s Level 3 automation feature. Image: Mercedes-Benz AG
“They understand technology, the sense of redundancy [in computing], our safety philosophy, and even how we educate customers on this Level 3 system. So a very important milestone here, meeting with the regulators, explaining the system, and preparing the application,” the CTO said.

Mercedes’ Drive Pilot system’s Level 3 features would allow drivers under certain circumstances (on the highway under a certain speed) to remove their hands from the steering wheel and stop paying attention to the road. Nothing else on the market allows drivers to essentially check out from the driving experience. The closest thing we have in the United States right now are hands-free systems from BMW, Ford, and GM. All of them require the driver to continue to pay attention.
Yet potentially being the first to sell a passenger vehicle that can drive itself (again, in certain circumstances on the highway) does equate to a jump into the ride-hailing mobility space. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that self-driving Teslas could earn money for their owners and, at one point, announced that there would be a million self-driving Tesla taxis on the road in 2020.

Mercedes wants to be able to launch its Drive Pilot feature in California
That hasn’t happened yet, and for Mercedes, that’s not even a goal — at least not anymore. “We thought in 2016 or 2017, we could solve the robotaxi problem quite quickly,” Schäfer said. But committing to both a ride-hailing solution and a passenger driver-assistance solution was expensive. Something had to be scrapped, and it was the taxis driven by robots.
As Mercedes works toward Level 3 and beyond, other OEMs and their subsidiaries are going through a shake-up that seems to have landed them along the same path. The Ford and Volkswagen-backed Argo AI shuttered last week. Employees were reportedly told that some would be offered jobs by either Ford or Volkswagen, while others would receive a severance package. The technology would also be split between the two companies, although it’s not known which automaker will get what. During a third quarter earnings call, Ford announced that it would be focusing on Level 2 and Level 3 driver-assistance systems instead of vehicles that could be used as robotaxis.

Ironically, Mercedes has been providing vehicles to human-driven taxis for decades in Europe. It will continue to take part in that lucrative market, but it’s definitely not the automaker’s priority to get into the robotaxi world, according to Schäfer. The CTO doesn’t see the benefit of a self-driving taxi with a Mercedes star. “Would you wait five minutes longer for a Mercedes robotaxi? I don’t think so,” Schäfer said.
Tesla might not have to worry about battling the German automaker in the robotaxi game (whenever that happens), but it should be concerned about Mercedes’ recent rollout of EVS.
The EQS, EQE, EQS SUV, and EQB EVs from Mercedes are either already in US showrooms or will be soon. The automaker has been aggressive in its introduction of EVs with more on the way, including the EQE SUV. This current crop of EVs is based on a 400-volt architecture, which means they top off at 200kW while hooked up to compatible DC fast charging stations.

Tesla might not have to worry about battling the German automaker in the robotaxi game
According to Schäfer, more energy-efficient vehicles are on the way and will be based on the 900-volt EQXX concept vehicle.
Schäfer says that the automaker’s 2024 platform will feature a new battery chemistry with a silicone anode, a different type of cells, improved packaging density, and new cooling concepts. Meanwhile, the Mercedes-Benz-built motor in the EQXX is more or less the series motor we’ll see in future vehicles.
There may be one EQXX, but it’s the new baseline for the automaker’s future lineup. The result, according to Schäfer, is that “you will see a dramatic reduction in electric consumption to what’s out there today.” When pressed about what this efficiency means, the CTO said that the company is targeting a 20–30 percent range improvement.

For those still concerned about the range of electric vehicles, that’s a big boost on the luxury side. Yet Schäfer believes that, as the infrastructure becomes more mature and EVs become more prevalent, there will be customers that opt for a smaller battery pack that actually fits their driving lifestyle to save money.
That’s an important look into the future as the dream of price parity between EVs and gas-powered vehicles starts to slip away.
“Honestly, all our calculations and intelligence showed it would take a really, really long time to reach parity,” Schäfer said. The CTO noted that it wasn’t there before the supply chain issues, and it’s definitely something that’s not going to happen anytime soon now. That is, unless there’s a breakthrough in chemistry.

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Mercedes plans to go fully electric by 2030. That’s five years ahead of California’s plan to no longer allow the sale of gas-powered vehicles. As the company that invented the modern automobile, Mercedes seems ready for the next step in the evolution of automobiles: a future with more efficient vehicles and actual autonomous functions (in certain conditions). But no robotaxis; it’ll leave that to the anonymous ride-hailing boxes.