What is The Road to Autonomy Index

The Road to Autonomy Index is an autonomous vehicle index comprised of 39 publicly-traded companies. The Index is a rules-based equity benchmark index that measures the performance of a basket of global companies that are involved in the development and commercialization of autonomous driving technologies.

Included in the Index are companies that are developing autonomous vehicles (self-driving cars), autonomous trucks and off-road specialty vehicles. As well as transportation, technology, industrial and services companies that have identified autonomy as a key component of their growth strategies. 

Institutional investors and fund managers are watching megatrends that are shaping investment opportunities today. These megatrends are creating thematic investment ideas and opportunities for forward-thinking investors.

We believe that one of the biggest megatrends today is autonomy, this is why we created The Road to Autonomy Index. The world’s first and only pure-play index to track the thematic investment opportunity in autonomy.

Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices is the custom calculation agent for The Road to Autonomy Index. Ticker: AUTONOMY

Why The Road to Autonomy Index is Important

The Road to Autonomy Index is based on a number of factors related to the current state of the autonomy sector. Including perceptions and misperceptions — and what we believe to be its enormous potential for transformational growth.  

First, we believe there is widespread confusion in the marketplace about what autonomy is and it’s relationship with electric vehicles (EVs). This confusion also carries over to other emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). 

While we believe the convergence of these technologies along with new emerging technologies such as hydrogen is inevitable and exciting. At this point in time there is a need for a pure-play Index that tracks the autonomous vehicle sector — as a thematic investment opportunity. Select companies and start-ups alike are investing in autonomy and making it a central element in their growth strategies. Yet there is no pure sector exposure from an Index perspective.

Other autonomous vehicle index providers — Solactive Autonomous & Electric Vehicles Index, NYSE FactSet Global Autonomous Driving and Electric Vehicle Index, S&P Kensho Smart Transportation Index, MSCI ACWI IMI Future Mobility ESG Filtered Net Total Return Index, MSCI ACWI IMI Future Mobility Index and STOXX Global Electric Vehicles & Driving Technology NET Index all have multi-sector exposure.

The Road to Autonomy Index is the world’s first and only pure-play index for autonomous vehicles. The Index has no sector exposure to battery-energy storage companies or electric vehicle companies except Tesla. The Road to Autonomy Index only includes companies that have a clear plan to profit from autonomy.

Tesla has a clear plan and a path to achieving full autonomy through their FSD (Full-Self Driving) technology. FSD is developing rapidly thanks in-part to their ability to gather millions of miles of real-world driving data.

Training an end-to-end deep learning model to drive a car takes millions upon millions of real-world miles. This is Tesla’s unique advantage as there are more then 4 million Tesla’s on the road today globally gathering data. Tesla is feeding all of its data into its Dojo supercomputer.

The Dojo supercomputer is accelerating Tesla’s development of FSD. Tesla’s development of FSD combined with Dojo gives them a competitive edge in developing and selling autonomous vehicles. The question remains, will these Tesla’s be personally owned autonomous vehicles or operated as part of a robo-taxi fleet?

Either way, Tesla clearly stands to benefit from the future of autonomy. The Tesla’s on the road today, equipped with FSD are not yet self-driving cars. Today Tesla’s are SAE Level 2 cars that have a highly advanced version of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems). One can even make the argument that these cars have the most advanced SAE Level 2 ADAS systems in the world.

As Tesla’s FSD technology advances, anchored by their vision-based computer neural network model approach, the vehicles will eventually become autonomous. It’s not yet clear if Tesla’s on the road today will need a hardware upgrade to enable full autonomous driving.

Second, another fundamental difference that makes The Road to Autonomy Index unique is the diversity of its component companies. Component companies in the Road to Autonomy Index often surprise individuals. They wonder why they are in the Index.

Certain component companies are not what most individuals would typically expect to be engaged in the development, deployment and scaling of autonomous vehicles and autonomous trucks. 

When a vehicle becomes autonomous, it becomes a mobile commerce platform. In order to conduct in-vehicle commerce you need rails and this is where Mastercard and Visa come into the Index. An autonomous vehicle must be insured in order to legally operate on public roads. This is where Aon, Marsh & McLennan Companies and Zurich Insurance Group AG come into the picture.

The Index paints the future of what autonomous driving will look like and who will profit from it. From autonomous farm tractors operated by Deere, to Sony and their imaging technology that is enabling autonomous vehicles to see, to Nvidia whose GPUs are powering autonomous vehicles and autonomous trucks. 

Autonomy is the future and we believe that The Road to Autonomy Index component companies stand to benefit the most. We believe this broad-spectrum point of view of the Index is critical to improving the understanding of where the autonomy sector is now and more important, where it’s going — and where it can go. 

Third, we believe the autonomy sector as a whole has done a sub-par job of explaining what an autonomous future looks like, the benefits it brings, and why it will change our lives for the better. 

To date, most conversations about autonomy and autonomous driving have been around the technology itself. We believe that’s not the most exciting part of the story and it’s certainly not the exciting story for the future.

We believe The Road to Autonomy Index reflects companies across a broad spectrum that have moved beyond the technology story. These companies are now looking at autonomy as a catalyst for growth and increased future profits.

This is a big concept, but as we tell the stories of the companies in The Road to Autonomy Index, we are telling them from this perspective in hopes that those with interest in learning more about autonomy can see the opportunities and future potential, not simply the current state. 

A Methodology Rooted in Deep Domain Knowledge of Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy Index currently comprises 38 component companies spanning a broad range of industries. From transportation to technology, industrials, consumer products, professional services – even agriculture.

There is nothing arbitrary about this collection of companies. They are hand-picked for their commitment to autonomy and significant investment in it as part of their business strategies.

Companies are selected using a proprietary weighting methodology that considers factors such as market capitalization, investments in the space, and strategic and operational commitments by leadership.

Our IP has a Name – and a Trustworthy Reputation 

What gives The Road to Autonomy Index significant integrity and credibility is our CEO and Founder Grayson Brulte. A recognized expert in autonomy and a credible voice who has influenced the sector.

Over the last two years Mr. Brulte has produced more than 160 episodes of his The Road to Autonomy podcast. The podcast looks at the evolution of this fast-emerging sector and the people and trends shaping it. Mr. Brulte’s guests have included corporate leaders, technology innovators, investors, policymakers and founders. The guests have offered their unique and thoughtful insights into the future of autonomy.

Mr. Brulte, has briefed members of Congress and their staff on the economic benefits of autonomous vehicles. With the right policies in place, the United States can usher in the autonomy economy to the benefit of society.

He has brought his unique insight and intelligence to creating The Road to Autonomy Index and the proprietary methodology behind it. Mr. Brulte reviews and rebalances the Index every quarter based on publicly documented developments and significant changes at individual component companies.

SPDJ Indices reviews the re-balance. Rebalancing can occur only once a quarter.

A Global Partner that Values Collaboration

The custom calculation agent for The Road to Autonomy Index is Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices. As the world’s benchmark for indices, SPDJ Indices has worked closely with us to refine the Index. To ensure that our proprietary weighting methodology is logical, thoughtful, defensible and transparent. 

Our partnership with SPDJ Indices has enormous value. Not only to the integrity and credibility of the Index, but also to those who use the Index as a benchmark. We believe the collaboration and cooperation built into the relationship with SPDJ Indices creates unique and reliable value in the Index.

Licensing The Road to Autonomy Index

Registered broker-dealers and/or investment advisers interested in licensing The Road to Autonomy Index, please contact us.

Or if you are simply interested in following the Index, add the ticker AUTONOMY on Apple Stocks. Or follow the ticker AUTONOMY on your favorite finance app or platform — Bloomberg Ticker: AUTONOMY.

What’s Next for The Road to Autonomy Index

As the autonomy sector evolves to include experiences and other elements beyond autonomous driving, we are expanding our offerings. We are currently working on companion indices designed to track this evolution — to help investors understand and track the next mega trend with an Index.

The next mega trend in autonomy will be the platform and the opportunities that the platform unlocks. Creating new investment opportunities that future The Road to Autonomy Indexes will track.

We believe our next Index will surprise, inspire and motivate investors to embrace this incredibly exciting sector. It will help investors understand and benchmark the potential for autonomy and experiences. Autonomy will change how we live, work and play.

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