Connected Car News: Tesla, Microsoft, Qualcomm, NXP, Cota Wireless, Continental, Nissan & HERE

In connected car news this week, besides an avalanche of news from CES, there was news from Microsoft, Qualcomm, NXP, Cota Wireless, Continental, Nissan and HERE.

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Telsa 3 Displayed in CA

Tech CARS Award nominee the Tesla 3 can be viewed in a few Tesla showrooms in the United States, starting Friday it could be seen in Century City, near Beverly Hills and the Stanford Shopping Center in  Palo Alto. There were long lines to see the vehicles.Tesla confirmed this week that it has received approval to expand in Rhode Island.

Vectorform Partners with Microsoft’s Holense & Ford

Vectorform, a digital product and experiences company with expert capabilities in mixed reality design and engineering,  announced its collaboration with Microsoft to innovate vehicle design and prototyping processes for the automotive industry. Using Microsoft’s HoloLens mixed reality headset, Vectorform and Microsoft enabled Ford Motor Company’s designers and engineers to view 3D holographic versions of exterior body options (e.g. side mirrors, grilles) overlaid on top of the physical vehicle prototypes.

This Vectorform solution accelerates the prototyping process by allowing designers to explore different shapes, sizes and textures of future vehicle attributes in minutes, instead of the weeks it can take to create clay models with physical tools. HoloLens also allows multiple team members to simultaneously view the same design variations, making collaboration easier and more productive.

Qualcomm Now Owns NXP

Qualcomm Incorporated announced that Qualcomm River Holdings B.V., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, has extended the offering period of its previously announced cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding common shares of NXP Semiconductors N.V.  The tender offer is being made pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, dated as of October 27, 2016, by and between Qualcomm River Holdings B.V. and NXP. The tender offer is now scheduled to expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on February 9, 2018, unless extended or earlier terminated, in either case pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement.

Continental, Ericsson, Nissan, Qualcomm & DOCOMO Demo C-V2X

Continental, Ericsson, Nissan, NTT DOCOMO, Inc., OKI and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), announced today plans to carry out their first Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) trials in Japan. The objective is to validate and demonstrate the benefits of C-V2X using direct communication technology defined by the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in their Release 14 specifications. The trials are designed to show the enhanced range, reliability and latency benefits of C-V2X direct communications operated in 5 GHz band. Additionally, the C-V2X Trials are designed to demonstrate the complementary benefits of network-based communications utilizing LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). The trial results will help develop the ecosystem by providing inputs to the relevant stakeholders, including ITS-related organizations and government agencies, as we prepare for the connected car of the future and the industry’s evolutionary transition towards 5G New Radio (NR), the new global cellular standard being defined in 3GPP.

While complementing other Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) sensors, such as radar, lidar, and camera systems, C-V2X provides non-line-of-sight (NLOS) low latency awareness with longer range and cloud capabilities, and designed to extend a vehicle’s ability to see, hear and communicate further down the road, even at blind intersections.

Ossia, Cota Wireless with Motherson Innvoations Brings Ossia Cota to Vehicles

Ossia Inc.,– innovator of the revolutionary Cota Real Wireless Power technology, and Motherson Innovations (MI) – a subsidiary of SMRPBV that is tasked with developing new technologies and creating platforms for new ideas to be launched, have announced the formation of a Joint Venture (JV) with the objective of bringing Ossia’s Cota power system into the interior of some of the world’s most popular vehicles.

The newly formed entity will be based in the U.S.A, supported by SMG’s global organization and the Joint Venture (JV) will be jointly funded by both companies.

Globally, the JV will focus on the integration of Cota technology into a wide range of non-military passenger, commercial and public transportation vehicles. The JV aims to have its systems deployed in both private and public vehicles by 2021 to not only deliver continuous wireless power to occupants’ personal devices, but also power various sensors in and on the vehicles themselves including brake sensors, tire pressure gauges and key fobs.

In addition, the JV will be the distributor of all Cota wireless power products across multiple verticals such as IoT and consumer devices in India.

Ossia is the developer of the patented Cota technology, which redefines wireless power by safely delivering targeted energy to devices at a distance.  Cota technology uses radio frequency to power range of devices like wearables, smartphones, automotive sensors, IoT devices and batteries.

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Launches Alliance Ventures

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, the world’s leading automotive alliance, announced the launch of Alliance Ventures, a new corporate venture capital fund that plans to invest up to $1 billion to support open innovation over the next five years.

In its first year, the fund expects to invest up to $200 million in start-ups and open innovation partnerships with technology entrepreneurs focused on new mobility, including vehicle electrification, autonomous systems, connectivity and artificial intelligence.

With further annual investments, Alliance Ventures is set to become the largest corporate venture capital fund in the automotive industry over the period of Alliance 2022, the strategic midterm plan launched last year by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.//

Vodafone & HERE/ SK Telecom & HERE/ Mastercard & HERE

Vodafone Germany, a leading integrated telecommunications company and Germany’s largest cable television operator, and HERE Technologies (HERE), a global leader in mapping and location services, t announced a strategic partnership focused on services for autonomous vehicles and smart cities.

 In their preliminary agreement signed at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, the companies outlined several collaborative initiatives that take advantage of increased vehicle connectivity, low latency cellular networks and real-time, highly-accurate location services.

A key area of focus will be on the network infrastructure needed for autonomous vehicles to operate safely and efficiently. The companies intend to test HD Live Map, HERE’s machine readable map for autonomous cars, at the Aldenhoven Testing Center in Germany. Vodafone Germany operates a 5G Mobility Lab at the facility, which is one of the most advanced development and testing environments for autonomous vehicles and will be among the first places in Europe where people can see 5G network technology in action.

SK Telecom, Korea’s largest telecommunications company, and HERE Technologies (HERE), a global leader in mapping and location services,y announced plans for a broad technology and commercial partnership in the automotive and Internet of Things sectors.

The collaboration – outlined in their preliminary agreement signed today at CES 2018 in Las Vegas – will see SK Telecom and HERE combine their complementary capabilities in connectivity, mapping and location data to deliver new services to Korean consumers and businesses. The companies also intend to leverage the HERE Open Location Platform as a development environment and marketplace for the services.

Mastercard and HERE Technologies  announced an agreement to jointly create more connected experiences for people on the move. This partnership comes as people look to take advantage of new technologies to make purchases from the convenience of their car’s dashboard and interact with destinations in real-time.

Under the agreement, the two companies will build on their respective digital payment and mapping technologies to take friction out of an increasingly mobile world and shape the next generation of connected vehicle services. The programs and ideas will build on global standards and open APIs to enable a superior user journey at scale – from personalized discovery and choice through to secure check-out, and relevant loyalty rewards.

IOTA Partners with ITIC