In connected car news this week were GM’s Cruise Automation, criminals, Goodyear, Cypress Semiconductor, Velodyne, ParkMobile and Veoneer.
Cruise Funded with Big Billions
SoftBank Vision Fund, a prominent technology investment firm, will invest $2.25 billion in Cruise Automation, GM’s autonomous vehicle operation.//
Guilty Criminals
Maruyasu Industries Co. Ltd., an automotive parts manufacturer headquartered in the Aichi Prefecture in Japan, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $12 million criminal fine for its role in a criminal conspiracy to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers for automotive steel tubes incorporated into vehicles sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced.
Goodyear @Mcity
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is extending its worldwide innovation network to include Mcity, the University of Michigan-led public-private partnership to advance connected and automated vehicles and technologies.
Goodyear will conduct testing at the Mcity Test Facility with electric and autonomous vehicles, further developing its intelligent tires and the application of sensors, and extending its role in managing the connection of tires to the road, to vehicles and, ultimately, to consumers.
Goodyear is the only tire company participating in research at the test facility. It joins nearly 60 other companies working with Mcity, including automotive manufacturers and suppliers, chip and hardware makers, insurance providers, and companies engaged in such technologies as advanced modeling, big data acquisition, and intelligent transportation systems.
More Money for Ridecell
Ridecell Inc., the platform of choice for leading carsharing, ridesharing, and autonomous fleet operators, today announced that the company has closed its Series B funding round of $28.61 million. The investment round was led by Cox Automotive, with participation from return investor Initialized Capital. Additional funding came from industry partners across the mobility ecosystem, including DENSO, Penske, Deutsche Bahn and Mitsui.
Ridecell’s goal is to partner and integrate with a comprehensive mobility ecosystem, including our customers’ existing partners, to help our customers power growth, improve user experience for their customers, and build a more sustainable business.
Ridecell has unveiled the first details of its Developer API suite, which allows partners to take creative control of their new mobility experience by designing their own app or web interface built on the Ridecell platform. This will enable partners to build differentiation and features that leverage their strategic strengths and are valued by their customer base, while maintaining the advantages and scalability of Ridecell’s core platform capabilities
TxDOT Picks Iteris.
Iteris,Inc. the global leader in applied informatics for transportation and agriculture,announced that it has been awarded a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Wave 2 Traffic Engineering indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, a three-year commitment with a potential value of up to $3 million. Task orders are anticipated in mid-2018.
Cypress Semi Semper NOR Flash
Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (Nasdaq: CY), the embedded solutions leader, today announced its Semper™ NOR Flash memory family that delivers the industry’s best combination of safety and reliability for automotive and industrial applications. The Semper Flash family is the first memory that is architected and designed to meet the automotive industry’s ISO 26262 functional safety standard for building fail-safe embedded automotive systems. The family is automotive-qualified, ASIL-B functional safety compliant, and provides superior endurance and data retention at the extreme temperatures common in automotive and industrial applications.
Cypress’ EnduraFlex™ architecture simplifies system design by enabling a Semper Flash device to be divided into multiple partitions, independently optimized for high endurance or long retention. For frequent data writes, a partition can be configured to deliver up to 1.28 million program-erase cycles for 512Mb density parts and 2.56 million cycles for 1Gb parts. For code and configuration storage, a partition can be configured to retain data for 25 years.
The Semper Flash family includes AEC-Q100 automotive-qualified devices with an extended temperature range of -40°C to +125°C, supports 1.8-V and 3.0-V operating ranges, and is available in densities of 512Mb through 4Gb. The devices are offered with Quad Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), Octal SPI and HyperBus™ interfaces. The Octal and HyperBus interface devices are compliant with the JEDEC eXpanded SPI (xSPI) standard for high-speed x8 serial NOR Flash and offer read bandwidth of 400 MBps.
Velodyne Puck Added @ ProspectSV
Prospect Silicon Valley (ProspectSV) announced that they have added a real-time 3D LiDAR sensor to their Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab, thanks to a generous equipment sponsorship provided by Velodyne LiDAR Inc.
A Velodyne PUCK™ VLP-16 sensor is now installed and operational in the ITS Lab for ProspectSV partners and clients to use for developing mobility and advanced driving assistance applications. Velodyne also will provide advanced training and development support to interested parties utilizing the high-definition, 3D LiDAR of the VLP-16 sensor to improve the cost, convenience and safety of motor vehicles.
Velodyne will leverage ProspectSV’s facilities for demonstration and consultation to deliver sustainable, high-performance product offerings to its growing customer base.
Mobile Payments in Berkeley Through ParkMobile
You can now pay for parking at any of the City of Berkeley’s parking meters or pay stations using your mobile device.
Using the ParkMobile app, users can sign up for notifications when a paid parking session is about to expire. You can also add time remotely without returning to the meter if within posted time limits.
To create an account or start a parking session, download the ParkMobile app (Apple and Android) or visit www.ParkMobile.io. Customers who don’t use a smartphone may use the service by calling 1-877-727-5718 – a process that’s faster if you’ve signed up online.
Veoneer Visionary
Autoliv, announced that Veoneer, its electronics business, has been selected by one of the world’s leading automakers as a partner to develop and produce mono vision camera systems comprised of camera hardware, software and algorithms. Veoneer is expected to be spun-off from Autoliv at the end of June 2018 and be one of the automotive industry’s newest and most experienced technology companies.
Veoneer’s mono vision system is designed to meet or exceed the market standards set by NHTSA and European NCAP for 5-star safety ratings. Veoneer is the only supplier capable of meeting 5-star safety ratings with hardware, software and detection algorithms fully developed in-house, using a single mono vision camera system.
Veoneer’s mono vision camera systems are best in class for pedestrian detection, forward collision warning, and lane keep assist. Starting in 2022, Veoneer will begin delivering mono vision camera systems for this customer. As Autoliv Electronics, Veoneer has a demonstrated history of exceptional product quality and manufacturing capabilities as a leading supplier of vision cameras for pedestrian detection, animal detection and warning on existing vehicles.
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