Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE) has announced that it has won an initial A$125m contract with a ‘leading German automaker’, confirmed by broker Cenkos and rival Smarteye’s own analyst, as the Volkswagen Group. 

This VW Group includes many well-known car marques: Audi, Porsche, Skoda, SEAT, Lamborghini, as well as Volkswagen.

It’s a win that has was first predicted here and confirms the view expressed back then that Seeing Machines is the ‘King of DMS’ (or should that be interior sensing?) with SmartEye a long way behind. The reason I say interior sensing is that SEE will deliver its FOVIO Driver and Occupant Monitoring System (OMS) for cars hitting the road in 2024.

Given that A$125m is only the initial lifetime value, and historically the initial amount is eventually revised upwards, I expect the actual lifetime amount will be multiples of this. However, that will depend on successful deployment over a number of years. 

Apparently, Seeing Machines now has an auto-order pipeline of roughly A$325m with 8 OEMs. Yet, with another A$1bn of RFQs still being finalised, I consider it very likely that Seeing Machines’ order pipeline will reach A$1bn in 2022.

It’s news that will dismay all its competitors, particularly Smarteye. Indeed, some investors in Smarteye appear to be abandoning ship as the share price is down 12% as I write. However, the smarter ones may be swimming towards Seeing Machines on today’s news.

I’m expecting a lot more positive news announcements from Seeing Machines over the next 2-3 weeks that should produce broker upgrades, so bookmark this website.

The writer holds stock in Seeing Machines