Aeva shares soar after deal with European automaker 

By Stephen ‌Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Shares of Aeva Technologies, a Silicon ‍Valley-based ‌maker of lidar units that help autonomous vehicles sense their surroundings, rose ⁠more than 18% in midday ‌trading on Wednesday after the company announced an exclusive deal to supply a European maker of passenger vehicles.

Aeva did not name the automaker, but analysts at Morgan ⁠Stanley and Canaccord Genuity last month said in research notes they believe the customer ​is Mercedes-Benz.

Aeva said in a press release the ‌automaker will use its sensors, which ⁠can generate a 3D map of the world around a vehicle as well as detect how fast objects such as pedestrians are moving, ​for autonomous-driving functions in all of the automaker's combustion, electric and hybrid vehicles outside of China.

Aeva did not disclose a value for the deal and said it would provide more details early next ​year. ‍At an analyst event earlier ​this year, Aeva executives said the partnership could be worth more than $1 billion in sales, though they did not give a time frame for those sales.

In a release on Wednesday, Aeva said its sensors would be used for what is known in the automotive industry as ⁠level 3 autonomy, where a vehicle can drive itself under limited conditions such as stop-and-go traffic or on ​certain kinds of highways.

“This OEM views lidar as essential to enabling safe level 3 automation, and their decision marks a pivotal moment as the passenger vehicle industry accelerates toward bringing ‌level 3 capabilities to consumers worldwide," Aeva CEO Soroush Salehian said in a statement.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Chris Reese)