Aeva Technologies, Inc.

Good day, my name is Chloe and I will be your conference facilitator, I would like to welcome everyone to the AVA technologies second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. During the opening remarks all participants will be in a listen only mode following the opening remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded and simultaneously webcast. I would now like to turn the call over to Andrew Fung, Senior Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Andrew, please go ahead.

Thank you, and welcome everyone to AVA's second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Joining on the call today are Suresh Salahian, Ava's co-founder and CEO, and Saurabh Sinha, Ava's CFO. Ahead of this call, we issued our second quarter 2024 press release and presentation, which we will refer to today and can be found on our investor relations website at investors.ava.com. Please note that on this call, we will be making forward-looking statements based on current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. These statements reflect our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representative of our views as of any subsequent date. These statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. For further discussion of the material risks and other important factors that could affect our financial results, please refer to our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Form 10-Q and Form 10-K. In addition, during today's call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe are useful as supplemental measures of AVIS performance. These non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to and not as a substitute for or in isolation from GAAP results. The webcast replay of this call will be available on our company website under the investor relations link. And with that, let me turn the call over to Soroush.

Thank you, Andrew, and good afternoon, everyone. In Q2, we achieved key milestones on our existing production program while also meaningfully advancing on a number of additional opportunities. Importantly, we secured wins with new customers, highlighting the broadening interest for Ava's unique 4D Vidar. I'd also like to share our key accomplishments in Q2. We continue to strengthen our partnership with Daimler Trucks. We remain on track with Diamond Truck's program milestones, including continued sensor shipments to build out the OEM's fleet of on-road vehicles. Diamond Truck also publicly unveiled the Autonomous Freightliner Vehicle and Technology Demonstrator, which incorporates AVUS-40 LiDAR as the exclusive long-range and ultra-long-range LiDAR, and highlights the OEM's progress and commitment to deploying autonomous vehicles at scale. In automotive, we have made significant progress on opportunities with multiple global top 10 passenger vehicle OEMs. With one top passenger OEM, we continue to expect their award decision later this year. And with another top passenger OEM, we began a new collaboration around 40 LiDAR vehicle integration. In industrial, we completed a final validation of our LiDAR on chip and Nikon's product ahead of our first industrial launch in Q4 this year. And lastly, AVA continued to broaden the reach of 40LiDAR with our expansion into security. We are proud that a top U.S. national defense security organization selected AVA 40LiDAR as a primary detection sensor to help protect some of the nation's critical energy infrastructure. Let's now discuss in more detail about our recent business developments. With Diamond Truck, we continue to work closely together and remain on track with the OEM's milestones and the start of production timeline. In Q2, we continue scaling sensor shipments to Diamond Truck and Torque for deployment on additional vehicles for on-road data collection and development. The ABA team is working very closely together with Torque and Diamond Truck on important use cases for safe operation of trucks at highway speed. In the last quarter, Domino Truck also publicly unveiled its Battery Electric Autonomous Freightliner eCascadia technology demonstrator, which incorporates multiple AVA-40 LIDARs as the exclusive long-range and ultra-long-range LIDARs. This vehicle highlights the significant progress Domino Truck is making to commercialize autonomous trucks on U.S. highways and is part of the OEM's broader strategy to deploy a propulsion-agnostic autonomous truck platform for scaling automated trucks to significant volume. Looking ahead, our focus is on supporting the rollout of additional Diamond Truck vehicles and related on-road development, as well as preparing for AVA's startup production in 2026, in time for Diamond Truck's market entry. Beyond Diamond Truck, our engagements for additional automotive programs continue to solidify in Q2. as we advanced on a number of opportunities expected to be decided in the coming months and expanded other ones. In particular, we made significant strides with multiple global top 10 passenger OEMs. This includes one we have discussed in the last quarter. The AVA team continues to advance in close collaboration with this OEM, and we continue to expect the OEM to make an award decision for this production program later this year. With another global top 10 passenger OEM, we have started on a collaboration for 40 LiDAR vehicle integration. This OEM is experienced with time of flight LiDAR and increasingly appreciates the benefits of FMCW for next generation capabilities. We look forward to further demonstrating the perception and integration capabilities of our differentiated 40 LiDAR technology. More broadly, we are highly encouraged by the industry's growing recognition that FMCW, and help enable more advanced capabilities, including automated driving at highway speeds. Following our production program win with Diamond Truck, AVA is experiencing this in exciting and tangible ways across a broad range of applications, from passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, to mobility. Our focus is on meeting the growing interest for AVA 40 LIDAR and the multiple opportunities to convert production wins in the near term. Turning now to industrial, AVA is on schedule for our first industrial launch in the fourth quarter. Over the quarter, we successfully completed the final validation of our LiDAR on-chip module in Nikon's product and are now preparing for our deliveries to Nikon in Q4. In support of this, we have also successfully scaled up our dedicated LiDAR chip manufacturing line at Fabrinet. This first collaboration with Nikon is for industrial metrology applications, where Nikon's existing customers across automotive, aerospace, and renewable energy already use Nikon's high-precision inspection products in the manufacturing processes, including some of the leading OEMs and automotive players in the space. With AVA's LiDAR on-chip module, we will together offer micron-level accuracy in a faster, smaller, and lower-cost solution that we believe will open new opportunities. This upcoming launch will mark a pivotal milestone for ABAP as we progress from the development stage to commercialization for the first time in industrial automation. While we plan to scale our dedicated manufacturing production line at Sabrinet over time, We believe this transition has the potential to accelerate our other ongoing engagements. We continue to engage with industrial leaders on expanding into additional opportunities where we can leverage the same AVA LiDAR on-chip module and our perception platform software for industrial metrology and automation across a broad range of applications. Now, speaking of new applications, we recently announced AVA's first expansion into security. Our 4D LiDAR was selected by top U.S. National Defense Security Organization to help protect critical U.S. energy infrastructure. AVA sensors are expected to be a primary detection sensor to protect sensitive locations in various facilities from intrusion, such as water entries and exits, and at perimeter fences. We expect to deliver the first set of sensors later this year. This selection comes after evaluation of other technologies, including 3D time-of-flight LIDAR. Because of our instant velocity data, immediate interference, and ultra-long range, AVA 40 LIDAR was selected to enable faster and more reliable detection. AVA's mission is to bring the next wave of perception to a broad range of applications, and this one is another example of the increasing interest to adopt our technology across a diverse mix of end markets. including for some of the most demanding and high-stakes physical security applications. We look forward to supporting this important application and helping to protect some of our nation's critical infrastructure. Lastly, I would like to share a bit more about our new collaboration in rail. HAVA 40 Linar was selected for Germany's automated train program. This program is funded by the Germany Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action. and managed by Germany's national rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, in collaboration with other industry leaders, such as Bosch and Siemens. The group is developing driverless, fully automated passenger train dispatch and parking functionality by 2026. AVUS 40 LiDAR was selected after evaluation of other sensors, including 3D time of flight LiDAR. Our ability to instantly detect velocity enables faster and more reliable detection of hazards, which can add critical reaction time to avoid obstacles surrounding train tracks. In addition, AVA's unique ability to offer precise real-time location state estimation without the use of GPS means we can provide accurate positioning even where GPS can be compromised, such as tunnels, urban canyons, and other areas where trains regularly operate. We are excited to work with some of the rail industry leaders on this project and leverage Fortivator's perception to bring new levels of automation to this end market. With that, let me turn the call over to Saurabh to discuss the financials.