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If you have been seeing Tesla shares, you know that the price of your action has been duplicated during the past year. Its prompt assessment, with their actions that quote more than 130 times the profits to progress, suggests that investors not only bets that more electric vehicles sell; Bets in the future in which the robotaxis, autonomous software, energy storage and even humanoid robotics dominates, all at the same time.
Much of this optimism is based on the undeniable advantage of Tesla in electric vehicles and related software. But is there any other ways to invest in the future of electric vehicles and robotics without paying the high cousin of Tesla?
A contender is Hyundai, a company that operates at the intersection of many of the same industries: EV, autonomous driving technology, energy storage and robotics. However, the market tells a different story. The actions of the South Korean automobile manufacturer have collapsed in the last year and trade with a fraction of the Tesla assessment with only 4 times the earnings forward.
A key factor in this disparity is Tesla’s domain in EV sales. Tesla surpassed Hyundai, who manufactures drums and hybrid EV, from more than two to one last year. Its vertical integration also helps to extract more profits per vehicle. Approximate calculations, based on net income and the total number of vehicles delivered last year, indicate net earnings per vehicle of around $ 4,000 for Tesla and $ 2,200 for Hyundai.
The software is another differentiator. Tesla control over its software ecosystem remains a definitive and difficult advantage to replicate. Unlike traditional car manufacturers, such as Hyundai, Tesla works as a technology company as a car manufacturer, taking advantage of data collection in real time, air updates and patented systems to continually refine the vehicle performance .
The assistance systems for Tesla drivers benefit from a set of massive data collected from their cars worldwide, which helps to continually improve their software. This also positions Tesla well in new markets such as Robotaxis, where its data -based software and approach provide an advantage over rivals.
Hyundai has also been increasing the characteristics of autonomous driving and testing its robotaxis. Here, Hyundai has adopted a different approach, based on traditional sensors such as Lidar and Radar, as well as cameras. These technologies have their strengths: Lidar, for example, offers a precise object detection, 3D mapping and superior performance in conditions of poor visibility, since it does not depend on the visible light to operate.
But this approach has a cost. Lidar and radar sensors cost more than cameras and neural networks that Tesla uses, which makes the large -scale deployment of total autonomy less profitable. In addition, Hyundai’s lower presence in the EV market means that it has access to a lower volume of driving data, which limits its ability to refine the autonomous systems promoted by AI to the same scale as Tesla.
However, there are areas where Hyundai has the advantage, especially in humanoid robotics. This is a market where Tesla is successful, could capture a significant proportion of the market that Goldman Sachs estimates It could reach $ 38TN during the next decade, a perspective that has contributed to its high assessment. Tesla has outlined an ambitious vision for its robotics initiatives, particularly Humanoid optimus robot – Although, possibly, much of that remains more rhetorical than reality.
Hyundai, on the other hand, has an 80 percent participation in Boston Dynamics, the robotics company behind humanoid robots that can jump, transport heavy loads and maneuvers with strange precision. Boston Dynamics has decades of experience in robotics, which gives Hyundai an advantage to explore ways to integrate automation into its manufacturing processes and beyond.
Meanwhile, the deceleration of sales battery growth and the competition of Chinese rivals has started a price war in the EV market, pressing manufacturers to reduce prices. The Hyundai hybrid line and the largest margin vehicles such as SUVs have helped provide coverage against such market dynamics. As a result, the gap on the gross margins between Tesla and Hyundai has been reduced in recent years, with Tesla to 18 percent and Hyundai by approximately 20 percent.
Hyundai, as an inherited car manufacturer, will inevitably continue to be more focused on the manufacture than Tesla, both in philosophy and in the operational structure. Tesla bows in her identity as a technology company, prioritizing software and innovation. This fundamental difference ensures that there will always be a significant gap in the way in which the two companies are valued. But for investors seeking exposure to the future of electric vehicles and robotics, without the shock of the label or volatility of Tesla, Hyundai could be good enough.