On the way home, I saw a Hummer slam on its breaks to avoid hitting the little car in front of it. Got me thinking, with everyone texting and generally being horrible drivers, that Mercedes crash prevention technology is going to be ubiquitous. Who is in that market I wondered?
When I got home, I found out the technology is called pre-crash technology. Genius name. I also found out it is nearing ubiquity in higher end cars already. The technology is generally in its first iteration. Eventually, it ends with cars driving themselves.
I found out two European companies, Mobileye and Bosch are the main suppliers to the carmarkers. Both are private companies. No real luck there. But who supplies them?
STMicroelectronics develops chips for the systems with Mobileye. STM is a large company operating in multiple industries. But could this be a growth area for them? It could.
This hunt also caused me to discover a company called Iteris. (AMEX: ITI) A tiny company who may or may not have winning technology in the automated roads market.
Topics worth investigating.
It also got me thinking, though. Does the world actually need equity markets anymore?