Connected Car News: Local Motors, Geely, Daimler, Nissan, NXP, DENSO, ANSYS, Kytronx, ISeego, Velodyne, MADD, DOCOMO, Otonomo, Trimble, Cypress, Bosch, Moovit & Geotab.

In connected car news this week were Local Motors, Geely, Daimler, Nissan, NXP, DENSO, ANSYS, Kytronx, ISeego, Velodyne, MADD, DOCOMO, Otonomo, Trimble, Cypress, Bosch, Moovit and Geotab.

Elite Supports Local Motors Olli

Florida-based Elite Transportation Services is expanding into the autonomous vehicle industry by becoming the exclusive provider of operational support for Olli, an autonomous self-driving shuttle developed and owned by Local Motors of Arizona.

Local Motors developed Olli in 2016 as a self-driving shuttle designed for sites using low-speed mass transit, such as airports, campuses, hospitals and municipalities. The shuttle – operated by ETS – has a maximum speed of 25 mph and includes speech recognition capabilities that allow the vehicle to talk to passengers.

In its partnership with Local Motors, ETS provides an all-inclusive fleet management support package for Olli customers, including routine maintenance, warranty service, insurance, monitoring and management of the shuttle.

Geely Acquires $9B in Daimler

Chinese manufacturer Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. has acquired an approximately $9-billion stake in Daimler AG to become the largest investor in the German automaker. Geely also owns Volvo Cars.

Nissan Tested Easy Ride

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and DeNA Co., Ltd. will begin a field test of Easy Ride, the robo-vehicle mobility service being developed by both companies, on March 5.

Easy Ride is envisioned as a mobility service for anyone who wants to travel freely to their destination of choice in a robo-vehicle. During the field test, in the Minatomirai district of Yokohama, in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture, the participants will be able to travel in vehicles equipped with autonomous driving technology along a set route. The route spans about 4.5 kilometers between Nissan’s global headquarters and the Yokohama World Porters shopping center.

For efficient fleet operation and customers’ peace of mind, Nissan and DeNA have set up a remote monitoring center that uses the two companies’ advanced technologies.

Nissan and DeNA will also test Easy Ride’s unique service functions. Using a dedicated mobile app, passengers can input what they want to do via text or voice and choose from a list of recommended destinations. An in-car tablet screen will show selections of nearly 500 recommended places of interest and events in the vicinity. Additionally, about 40 discount coupons for retailers and restaurants in the area are available for download on the participants’ own smartphones.

NXP Offers GreenBox

NXP Semiconductors, has announced the availability of its GreenBox vehicle electrification development platform. GreenBox allows automakers and suppliers to begin early development of next-generation hybrid and electric vehicle applications on NXP’s S32 automotive processing multicore platform based on Arm Cortex technology.

With increasing regulatory restrictions on emissions and stricter fuel economy targets around the world, both traditional automakers and new market entrants are under pressure to roll out electric and hybrid vehicles to consumers quickly. GreenBox provides a high-performance processing platform to design and test new control algorithms and energy management tasks critical for next-generation hybrid and fully-electric vehicles.

GreenBox is one of the development platforms for NXP’s next generation S32 electrification MCUs, which are part of the S32 automotive processing platform that is built around a safe, secure and fault-tolerant configuration. The S32 electrification MCUs will address the increasingly intensive computation and memory requirements for tomorrow’s HEV/EV applications.

Using the GreenBox development environment, developers can also tap into the mix of high-performance and highly optimized peripherals, including advanced timers, motor control peripherals and analog sub-systems to interface with their own development hardware.

GreenBox is available in two configurations. The first is for development of fully-electric vehicles and supports motor control and battery management capabilities. The second is for development of hybrid applications, which supports both electric vehicle features as well as traditional engine control capabilities.

DENSO Invests in Dellfer

DENSO, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, has announced a significant investment in Dellfer, an IoT and automotive cybersecurity startup company based in San Francisco, California. Dellfer is a young startup focusing on cybersecurity solutions against “zero day” attacks within connected networks such as deployed IoT devices, and in the future, connected vehicles. Dellfer will use the proceeds from this funding to build out its development team and begin discussions with early adopter customers, including DENSO.

GE Simlulates with ANSYS

General Electric Co. is leveraging ANSYS Pervasive Engineering Simulation to accelerate product development and analysis, improve product quality and reduce testing time in aviation and power generation applications. Through a new, multi-year agreement, GE will realize greater cost and time savings during product development.

The agreement provides GE access to the full breadth of ANSYS’ industry-leading portfolio of engineering simulation software and experts, to enable multiphysics solutions in ground-based and on-wing gas turbine engines. As part of the agreement, GE and ANSYS formed an Executive Management Review Board to collaborate and drive innovation on areas of mutual interest.

Krytonx Free Blockchain iOT

Krytronx, LLC, a Michigan technology company, announced today its $100m plan to provide free worldwide installation of their blockchain based iOT asset tag product line.

Krytronx will install the iToolTag asset tag sensors on over 1 million production tools throughout the global supply base. The smart tags replace traditional asset tags on machinery and tooling owned by OE manufacturers, placed in service at supplier locations.

The product provides a cost effective and rapidly scalable technique to collect real-time analytical information globally without requiring any equipment upgrades or even an interface with existing IT infrastructure.

iToolTag™ creates an ecosystem of value, providing insights that can be shared throughout the supply chain, benefiting OE’s and local small business owners.

InSeego SaaS Ctrack on Track

InSeego in software-as-a-service (SaaS) business intelligence solutions, Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile technology,  announced significant momentum for its Ctrack SMB Fleet Management solution across international markets. Over the past year, the solution has experienced solid growth of more than 20%, winning new small and medium sized business (SMB) customers throughout Europe, South Africa and Australia.

The Ctrack SMB solution allows fleet owners and managers to receive a return on investment faster than any other solution in the market. This is accomplished through fuel cost savings, equipment operational efficiency and workforce productivity. In addition, the Ctrack SMB solution provides an improved customer service experience through expedited billing, enhanced scheduling and optimized task management.

Safe Drive Systems (SDS), a leading developer and distributor of collision avoidance and lane departure warning systems, has announced that its accident prevention solutions are now being deployed by one of the country’s major metropolitan ambulance services.

Maricopa Ambulance initially installed the safety technology in its new 14-ambulance fleet that began serving the City of Scottsdale 9-1-1 system on February 17.

SDS’s unique RD-140 collision avoidance system is the only one available in the U.S. that incorporates both radar and cameras. Reliable, affordable and user-friendly, it is designed to prevent or reduce the severity of an accident by monitoring both the distance between you and the vehicle in front and how close your vehicle is to an unintended lane departure.

Velodyne Partners with MADD

Silicon Valley based Velodyne LiDAR, Inc. and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) have joined together to launch #VelodyneMADD, a national partnership designed to educate people about the safety benefits of autonomous vehicle technology. To kick off the effort, Velodyne is releasing LiDAR 101 – which details the technology that helps make driverless cars possible and is reinventing the designated driver.

Moovit Funded

Moovit App Global Ltd. (“Moovit”), a leader in urban mobility and the developer of the world’s #1 transit app, announced it has closed a $50 million Series D round led by Intel Capital. All Moovit’s earlier investors participated, including Sequoia, BMW iVentures, NGP, Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, BRM, Gemini, Vaizra, Vintage, and newcomer Hanaco.//

DOCOMO Invests in Otonomo

NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO, Toshiki Nakayama), through its fund, has invested in Otonomo Technologies Ltd. (headquartered in Herzeliya, Israel; CEO, Ben Volkow; hereinafter referred to as “Otonomo”), a start-up that provides a marketplace for connected car data.

Otonomo offers the industry’s first connected car data marketplace, a centralized platform through which car-generated data parameters are packaged into data bundles and offered to service providers to create innovative new applications and services. The Otonomo platform was built from the ground up to handle car data, addressing core needs such as accounting, billing, security, market management, privacy protection, regulatory compliance, data anonymization and normalization, API linkage and more.

At present, Otonomo is engaged with dozens of auto manufacturers and Telematics Service Providers, and has an ecosystem comprising many dozens of partners. It has been promoting its advanced business development globally, and its know-how complements NTT Group’s connected car platform business and vehicle data service development; thus it is expected to contribute to future business creation.

Trimble Used in GM’s Super Cruise