In connected car news this week were Tesla, Tesla Civil Maps, Hyundai Mobis, OmniAir, FINsix, Sigfox, Eye-Net, Proterra, Bosch, Kyocera and SAE.
Best a’ Tesla
Tesla added 121 super station totaling 1,324. Tesla’s Senior VP of engineering Doug Field is on leave of absence. Soon the Tesla Models X S will soon work with no key if your the phone pairs with Bluetooth, signal strength is high and the driver enables the feature.
Tesla stopped production of the Tesla Model 3 while Tesla Model 3 deliveries started in Canada. Telsa was not granted entry to Connecticut. Tesla models won accolades from AAA’s Green Car Awards.
Civil Maps Runs on ARM
Civil Maps, a pioneer in edge-based HD mapping and localization for autonomous vehicles, today announced that the company has ported its vehicular cognition stack to run on the Arm family of processors. Arm® is the world’s leading licensor of automotive-grade system-on-chips (SoCs) and system-on-modules (SoMs), with more than 1,000 technology partners. The move by Civil Maps marks a disruptive paradigm shift in which self-driving car developers can leverage an Arm SoC with Civil Maps embedded software for enabling vehicles to navigate safely and localize on the road. Currently, no other competing solutions, which commonly rely on x86 and/or GPU-based architectures, offer developers a path to production-scale vehicle autonomy.
As part of the transition, Civil Maps has optimized core components of its algorithms and software for the Arm CPU architecture, known for its high-volume manufacturing process and auto-grade certifications. The efficiency of Civil Maps’ exclusive Fingerprint Base Map™ technology allows the company to leverage the Arm Neural Network accelerators in these low-power, low-cost SoCs.
Hyundai Mobis Make Digital Clusters
Hyundai Mobis is currently entering the market for digital clusters, a field which is on the rise as a driving information display solution for autonomous cars. For this, Hyundai Mobis produced a cluster equipped with a 7″ display and applied it to Hyundai Kona EV. The company is also aiming to induce the development of a next-generation cockpit optimized for the era of autonomous driving.
By entering the market, it is striving to actively respond to future car technologies such as autonomous driving and connectivity and enable them to become new growth drivers while focusing on developing infotainment and ICT parts.
Hyundai Mobis has worked on developing a cluster, which is a core part of the cockpit to secure competitiveness in Level 4 autonomous driving. The company had successfully developed a large 12.3″ cluster in 2015, and this year, it started to mass-produce a 7″ cluster in just three years from then.
Based on such global competitiveness, it will aggressively carry out sales efforts targeting global automakers as well as domestic ones, developing the digital cluster as a key export item.
ReachNow Reaches Intel Campuses in OR
ReachNow, the mobility services company from the BMW Group, and Intel announced a new venture that brings ReachNow’s free-floating car sharing service to Intel’s four campuses in Hillsboro, OR. With dedicated parking spaces near major entrances on each Intel campus, ReachNow’s shared fleet of BMW and MINI vehicles will be easily accessible to nearly 20,000 Intel employees and contractors, to improve mobility options on the west side of the Portland-metro region.– ReachNow, the mobility services company from the BMW Group, and Intel today announced a new venture that brings ReachNow’s free-floating car sharing service to Intel’s four campuses in Hillsboro, OR. With dedicated parking spaces near major entrances on each Intel campus, ReachNow’s shared fleet of BMW and MINI vehicles will be easily accessible to nearly 20,000 Intel employees and contractors, to improve mobility options on the west side of the Portland-metro region.
OmniAir’s 4th Gen ITS-OB4
OmniAir Consortium certified Commsignia’s Smart City 4th generation ITS-OB4 (On Board Unit). While there are many DSRC-V2X products on the market, Commsignia is the only one in the world to gain certification through OmniAir’s commercial, connected vehicle certification conformance program.
OmniAir and its members have worked collaboratively with transportation stakeholders to develop testing conformance requirements and procedures for both tolling and V2X Connected Vehicle markets. OmniAir’s certification program provides third-party qualified accredited laboratory testing and validation of DSRC-based V2X devices and test tools.
FINsix Develops Minature Power Electronics Modules for Toyota Hybrids
FINsix Corporation (FINsix), the worldwide leader in high-frequency power electronics, announced its partnership with Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) a major company of Toyota Group, to develop a new generation of highly miniaturized power electronics modules for hybrid vehicles.
Sigox Partners with PNI Sensor IoT Parking
Sigfox U.S.A., the North America network operator for the global Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) connectivity provider Sigfox, has partnered with PNI Sensor to launch an IoT enabled parking solution in the US, the Sigfox enabled PlacePod.
Solving the most mission-critical aspects of parking management including accurate, real-time vehicle detection and location of available parking spaces, the PlacePod is an industrialized low power wide area IoT enabled smart parking sensor for on-street, off-street, municipal, and private parking management. Unlike other magnetic sensor-based parking sensors, PlacePod accurately detects parking events in dense urban environments and filters out magnetic interference from underground trains, passing traffic, and overhead power lines which can trigger false parking events.
With the power of Sigfox unique device-to-cloud technology, the Sigfox enabled PlacePod has an extremely long battery life, allowing for smart cities, universities, parking companies, and facilities to harness the benefits of PlacePod and make data-driven decisions over long periods of time. As a result, parking managers and city planners can use the Sigfox enabled PlacePod solution to help reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions, improve urban mobility, and increase parking revenue by making parking enforcement more efficient.
The partnership is part of Sigfox U.S.A.’s expanding ecosystem to better serve the needs of the US market, and complements Sigfox existing network coverage in the top 24 US metros, including cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City.
Foresight Merges with Tamda Spins Off Eye-Net ADAS
Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd., an innovator in automotive vision systems announced that it has signed a merger agreement with Tamda Ltd. and its controlling shareholder, Ipax Issues Ltd. According to the agreement, Foresight will spin off its activities dedicated to the development of its Eye-Net accident prevention system into its wholly owned subsidiary, then merge it into Tamda.
The Eye-Net V2X (vehicle-to-everything) cellular-based accident prevention solution is designed to provide real-time pre-collision alerts to pedestrians and vehicles by using smartphones and relying on existing cellular networks.
According to the agreement, Foresight will establish a wholly-owned subsidiary and transfer to the Subsidiary all of Foresight’s rights, including intellectual property, for no consideration. Upon the closing of the of the merger transaction, Foresight will transfer 100% of the share capital of the subsidiary to Tamda in return for approximately 74.49% of Tamda’s share capital as of the closing date of the transaction. Furthermore, Tamda will have no assets, liabilities or obligations of any kind and will have net cash of NIS 2,000,000 upon the closing of the transaction.
Newsight’s New CMOS
The global specialty foundry leader, and Newsight Imaging, t announced production of Newsight’s advanced CMOS image sensor (CIS) chips and camera modules, customized for very high volume LiDAR and machine vision markets, combining sensors, digital algorithms and pixel array on the same chip. Newsight’s CIS chips are used in ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) and autonomous vehicles as well as in drones and robotics.
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a detection system which works on the principle of radar, but uses light from a laser, is considered a must have for autonomous driving due to its high resolution at long distances, and market growth is expected to be exponential once L4/L5 autonomous vehicles become mainstream. IHS estimates the automotive LiDAR semiconductor market will reach $1.8 billion by 2026, with 37% CAGR (2018-2026). By utilizing TowerJazz’s advanced 180nm technology, featuring a wide range of customizable pixel architectures and technologies, Newsight is well-positioned to address the vast opportunities in the automotive market as well as in the security, defense, medical, industrial, and consumer markets.
Newsight’s innovative image sensor chips are ideal for high volume, competitive applications requiring cost effectiveness, low power consumption, high performance, and analog and digital integration. The NSI3000 sensor family, currently in mass production at TowerJazz’s Migdal Haemek, Israel facility, offers extremely high sensitivity pixels, enabling the replacement of expensive CCD (charge-coupled device) sensors in many applications and is designed for programmable high frame rate speeds, allowing better analysis and reaction to events.
Proterra’s New High-Power Charging
Proterra, the world’s leading developer of heavy-duty battery electric vehicles and charging systems, introduced new high-power charging options to make a 100 percent electric bus fleet more easily achievable. At the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Bus & Paratransit Conference, Proterra introduced new systems for reliable, smarter charging that are flexible, scalable, and powerful.
across North America, cities, counties and transit agencies are announcing bold, zero-emission fleet goals. The development of universal technology standards will accelerate this transition, and Proterra is actively working to promote interoperability across technology platforms. Accordingly, all Proterra buses utilize the SAE J1772 CCS (IEC Type 1) standard for plug-in charging, and newer models of Proterra Catalyst® vehicles will now be fully compatible with the emerging SAE J3105 standard for overhead charging.
Bosch Licenses Kyocera Haptic Haptivity
Kyocera Corporation (President: Hideo Tanimoto) announced that it has signed a license agreement with Robert Bosch Car Multimedia GmbH, a subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH, a leading global supplier of technology and services. Effective May 7, 2018 (Japan time), this license agreement provides Bosch with access to Kyocera’s patented haptic feedback technology for use in Bosch’s automotive solutions.
Kyocera has been creating haptic technologies through its own research and development since 2008. Utilizing ergonomics and virtual reality technology that Kyocera has developed over the years as well as its proprietary haptic feedback technology, Kyocera’s HAPTIVITY® technology contains a virtual reality innovation that enables real touch sensation on any human-machine interface. Kyocera has introduced its HAPTIVITY® devices in Japanese, U.S. and European tradeshows, and holds patents on this technology in multiple countries.
Kyocera continues to refine its HAPTIVITY® technology while developing devices, equipment and systems that incorporate it. In addition, the company continues to license its HAPTIVITY® technology for a wide range of uses, including automotive and industrial applications.
SAE Supports MaaS Alliances
SAE International has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Mobility International as a Service (MaaS) Alliance to support and foster collaborative efforts in creation of guidelines and standards for development of more integrated and seamless mobility services.
“There is a growing trend among the aerospace and automotive sectors for more collaboration of shared mobility,” Jack Pokrzywa, Director of Global Ground Vehicle Standards for SAE International, said. “We are pleased to work with the MaaS Alliance to help further and facilitate that type of collaboration.”
Under the MoU, SAE International and MaaS Alliance agree to share knowledge in the shared mobility guidelines and standards development and pursue, where feasible, into coordinated technical efforts and harmonization.
The first SAE shared mobility standard will be “SAE J3163 Taxonomy and Definitions Related to Shared Mobility and Enabling Technologies.” This recommended practice, which is slated to be published later this year, will provide a taxonomy for shared modes and related service, operational, and business models.
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