In connected car news this week were DK, Kia, Designated Driver, Nuance, Local Motors, Renovo, Seagate, Actsoft, Geotab and MyTaxi.
LiDAR in Safety Glass by DK
The limited optical quality of the windscreen can hamper camera video quality. To improve quality, this, DK integrates the camera system into the safety glass and has filed a patent for the technology.
Bart Driehuis explains, “We are improving the optical quality of the windscreen by a factor of ten or even twenty in a localised manner, only where it is necessary. This technique also makes it possible to apply LiDAR technology in the car. In short, with our invention, optical limitations to the windscreen no longer form a barrier to the development of increasingly self-driving cars. The camera system provides a sharp image that reflects reality,” Driehuis guarantees. He concludes by making a convenient reference to another DK innovation. “Particularly when you combine it with our patented windscreen wiper cleaning system.”
Faraday Case for Kia Keys
In the U.K. Kia Motors Limited’s commitment to its customer’s vehicle security has been stepped up with the availability of a Faraday case for customers that purchase a new or used Kia model with a keyless entry system. The KiaSafe case is available from participating dealers during the handover process and is also available to purchase from dealers for £9.99 which means existing owners can also benefit.
Designated Driver Controls Via 5G at Goodwood
Along with partners Samsung and Vodafone, teleoperations specialist Designated Driver unveiled the world’s first remotely-controlled 5G car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Drift Champion Vaughn Gittin, Jr. is making 5G history by remotely drifting a first-of-its-kind virtual reality car powered by a Designated Driver teleoperation system, the new Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and a Samsung VR headset; all enabled via Vodafone’s superfast 5G network.
Nuance Kudos for Voice Biometrics
Nuance Communications, Inc. today announced it has been recognized once again as a Leader in Opus Research’s Intelligent Authentication and Voice Biometrics Intelliview Report1. The 2019 report cites Nuance as the “undisputed market share leader” and notes its “multi-faceted, layered security approach that includes biometrics, non-biometric prints, anti-spoofing measures, intelligent detectors, pattern detection and employing AI techniques.”
According to the report, as enterprises evaluate their options, they seek holistic solutions that support “optichannel authentication”, meaning customers choose (“opt for”) the best (“optimal”) device or medium to support their present need. Opus looked at 13 vendors and evaluated each solution’s ability to streamline omnichannel customer authentication and stop fraudsters through all points of access and evaluated not only voice biometrics tech, but also behavioral, non-biometrics factors and anti-spoofing offerings.
Olli Coming to Pacific Northwest
Local Motors by LM Industries Group Inc., known for 3D-printed mobility solutions, is asking the Pacific Northwest region to consider locations for its self-driving shuttle known as Olli. The company is launching a fleet challenge for its autonomous shuttle and it is opening the opportunity to entries from across Washington and Oregon.
Renovo Partners with Seagate
Renovo, the global autonomous vehicle software company, announced their cooperation with Seagate Technology plc , a world leader in data storage solutions. This will fuel Renovo’s autonomous vehicle data management and orchestration efforts, ahead of a product announcement in this space in the next few weeks.
In just one day, an autonomous vehicle produces as much data as the Hubble telescope produces in a whole year. Streaming this data in real-time to cloud-based storage is impractical given the bandwidth constraints, thus, local persistence on individual vehicles is key.
Renovo have been building on the success experienced with the AWare platform and are planning on announcing additional information on other projects in the coming weeks. This cooperation will see Renovo use a wide range of Seagate storage solutions across all areas of an autonomous vehicle fleet.
The Renovo platform currently powers highly automated vehicle fleets on public and private roads today including that of Voyage.auto. Seagate joins the Renovo ecosystem along with a growing list of autonomous mobility technology providers like Samsung, Verizon, HERE, Velodyne LiDAR, Parsons, INRIX, Argus Cyber Security, Affectiva, Phantom Auto, Metamoto, Understand.ai, NIRA Dynamics, Bestmile, and others.
Actsoft and Geotab
Industry leaders Actsoft, Inc. and Geotab recently announced a new collaboration to include Actsoft’s flagship solution, Encore, on the Geotab Marketplace, an extensive online solution center for managing mobile assets and workers. Encore, which is now available to over 40,000 Geotab customers, is designed to help organizations increase their efficiency, optimize productivity, and conserve resources.
The Encore business solution collects and reports relevant information about fleet vehicles, mobile staff, and assets back to a company’s headquarters, giving their managers tools to identify areas of inefficiency in routine operations. Leadership teams can then craft smarter, more effective strategies for increased revenue. Encore also better connects administrators to their dispersed employees by allowing them to digitally communicate and coordinate work assignments at will.
Mytaxi Become FREE Now
Mytaxi has rebranded to FREE NOW. Europe’s biggest Taxi app has not only changed its branding, but with the new name, it is also set up as a broader mobility provider, and will add more mobility options to the app in future. As a first step, the company has announced it will integrate hive scooters into the app, in the FREE NOW markets, where hive is already active (Portugal, Poland and Austria) within the next few months. Further mobility options will also be implemented in the future.
FREE NOW is part of the brand family created through the mobility merger of BMW and Daimler. The other verticals within that family are SHARE NOW (Carsharing) REACH NOW (multi-modal), PARK NOW and CHARGE NOW.
Neither passengers nor drivers will have to install a new app. The change from mytaxi to the new FREE NOW app will happen through a regular update, which is available on Google Play Store and the iOS Appstore from today on. Also all accounts and their settings remain unchanged.
Read all Connected Car News summaries.
SUBSCRIBE
You are welcome to subscribe to receive email notification of publication of Connect Car news TIPS, you can also get weekly news summaries or daily emails.