Astranis Partners With Xona Space Systems for R-GPS Design
Satellite maker Astranis to add Xona's PNT algorithms in early design contract
California-based Astranis announced last week that it is partnering with Xona Space Systems to develop an initial phase of the Resilient Global Positioning System, or R-GPS, program. Astranis, which won an $8 million U.S. Space Force contract for the concept’s development, will integrate Xona Space-developed PNT algorithms on its Octane software-defined radio hardware.
In addition to Astranis, the Space Force’s Space Systems Command , as Location Business News reported in late September, awarded R-GPS design concept contracts to Axient, L3 Harris LHX 0.00%↑ and Sierra Space. Until recently, the Space Force did not disclose the value of the awards, only saying that the total program ultimately will cost about $2 billion over the next five years.
The service moved $40 million in fiscal year 2023 funding to support the program—with $77 million more requested for 2025.
R-GPS, part of the Space Force’s Lite Evolving Augmented Proliferation, will attempt to provide resilience to military and civil GPS communities by augmenting the regular GPS constellation with small satellites. These small sats, of which eight will be launched by 2020, will transmit a core of widely-used GPS signals, the Space Force said. In addition, the Space Force said the decision to pursue R-GPS came when recent studies recommended an additional “fleet of small GPS satellites.”
However, not everyone in Congress wants R-GPS funded. As Location Business News reported, the U.S. House Appropriations defense subcommittee says they aren’t sold on the Space Force’s plan to use R-GPS satellites to increase resiliency. Before they recommended not to fund the $77 million that the Space Force requested in DoD’s fiscal 2025 budget request, the committee said that 20 proposed small sats transmitting core GPS signals may not provide much signal resilience.
The Space Force is using a Quick Start authority from National Defense Authorization Act to award the contracts in less than six months, which is faster than traditional space programs that can take years.
For its part, Xona Space Systems is developing the Pulsar Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network to provide commercial navigation services.
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HERE Partners With Hapag-Lloyd, Expands Maxar Partnership
European container shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd has announced that more than 1.5 tracking device-equipped containers now have HERE Technologies’ location service integrated. The partnership’s financial details were not disclosed.
Hapag-Lloyd, which offers its smart container tracking solution Live Position, has leveraged their known expertise in sea freight to offer a multi-modal solution, said Amol Naik, senior product manager at HERE Technologies. The company offers containers for rail, barge and truck transportation networks.
“While we already know where each container is at any moment, our collaboration with HERE allows us to predict where it will be across any transport mode, in any country. This capability significantly boosts our operational planning and supports our customers,” said Patrick Briest, Hapag-Lloyd’s head of network and operations IT products, in a statement.
HERE Tracking, which is deployed on 90 percent of Hapag-Lloyd’s fleet and will be on all company containers by next year, enables organizations to track the location of goods and time-critical shipments, the company said. “Logistics companies and fleet owners benefit by acquiring this information and distributing it timely to shippers and carriers,” Naik said. “Increasingly, companies are also gathering estimated time of arrival (ETA) predictions, milestones such as pick-ups and drop-offs, delays due to traffic incidences, and even calculating emission footprints.”
In other HERE Technologies news, Maxar Intelligence has expanded its partnership with the mapping giant to enhance the company’s mapmaking process through the integration of Maxar’s geospatial products. HERE has used Maxar’s satellite imagery and geospatial content products for more than 15 years, the company said.
As part of a multiyear deal, HERE has subscribed to Maxar’s Geospatial Platform Pro for access to high-resolution imagery collected by the Maxar constellation. This includes Maxar’s Vivid imagery basemaps.
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Lyft Makes Three Separate Autonomous Vehicle Partnerships
Trying to grab a piece of the potentially lucrative autonomous vehicle market, rideshare giant Lyft LYFT 0.00%↑ has announced partnerships this week with May Mobility, Intel-owned INTC 0.00%↑ Mobileye and Nexar.
In the first deal, Lyft will offer its app to launch autonomous vehicle service with May Mobility in Atlanta next year. Lyft’s partnership with Mobileye makes the company’s rideshare platform available to vehicles using Mobileye’s self-driving technology—primarily small and large fleet operators.
Lyft said it is pairing its data with Nexar's hundreds of millions of hours of video footage to contribute to autonomous research and development. Lyft’s data market will be a B2B play with the company offering fleet data for OEMs and AV companies.
Lyft is trying to keep up with competitor Uber UBER 0.00%↑, which has partnered with Waymo, to offer robotaxi rides in Phoenix. In addition, Uber has cut deals with sidewalk delivery companies and autonomous truck manufacturers.
Lyft is an experienced, and battered, veteran of the autonomous vehicle wars. It had a partnership with Motional in Las Vegas, which is not currently in operation. In addition, it was a major stakeholder in Argo AI, which shuttered in 2022, leaving Lyft with a $137.7 million loss.
Other Location News
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Top News:
💰 Apple Invests $1.5 Billion in Globalstar to Fund a New Constellation. “Apple AAPL 0.00%↑ is doubling down on its partnership with Globalstar GSAT 0.00%↑ investing $1.5 billion to fund a new constellation for expanded satellite services. Apple will pay Globalstar up to $1.1 billion to fund a new constellation and invest $400 million in a Globalstar LLC that will own the new constellation, for a 20 percent equity stake.”
Globalstar also offers its SPOT satellite devices that provide GPS location-based messaging, emergency services, and anti-theft tracking. The SPOT app allows users to view messages, track progress, and monitor assets
🛩 Amazon Starts Drone Deliveries in Arizona. “Amazon AMZN 0.00%↑ has started its same-day Prime Air drone delivery service for customers in Phoenix Valley West.”
🙂 Three Finnish Airports Mitigate Russian GPS Interference With Radio Navigation. “The radio-based Distance Measuring Equipment, previously widely used in aviation, provides ‘an alternative approach method’ for aircraft during GPS interference, said Finavia's head of infrastructure and security, Henri Hansson.”
📱 Ukrainian GPS Spoofing for Repelling Drone Attacks Could Indirectly Affect Smartphone Clocks. “Users in Ukraine have begun to experience more frequent automatic time changes on their smartphones due to the activation of electronic warfare systems during air raid alarms.”
🛳 Royal Navy Tests Out Quantum Positioning System for GPS-Denied Navigation. “The Royal Navy is testing out a new positioning system that is wholly self-contained, like a typical inertial navigation system but with much higher accuracy. If successful, it offers the possibility of more reliable navigation in GPS-denied environments.”
👍 Singapore To Increase Road Capacity by Tracking All Vehicles With GPS. “Singapore's Land Transport Authority estimated last week that by tracking all vehicles with GPS it will be able to increase road capacity by 20,000 over the next few years. The densely populated island state is moving from what it calls Electric Road Pricing (ERP) 1.0 to ERP 2.0. The first version used gantries – or automatic tolls – to charge drivers a fee through an in-car device when they used specific roadways during certain hours.”
⚡ NSAI Launches Europe's 1st Verified GNSS Data Stream Service. The VGDS [Verified GPS/GNSS Data Stream] service provides verified GNSS data in the form of Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) packets via the internet, allowing users to verify their own GNSS data streams.
✈ Avincis Integrates TracPlus Tracking for Enhanced Aerial Emergency Operations in Europe. “Avincis, has selected TracPlus to supply operational intelligence and tracking across its fleet of approximately 220 aircraft.”
🛰 Beidou Remote Sensing Experiment Enhances Ecological Monitoring in Yellow River.
Maps:
🗺 New in Maps: Inspiration Curated With Gemini, Enhanced Navigation and More. Google GOOG 0.00%↑ has announced that it has integrated Gemini in Maps to allow users to find live music or other attractions.
Maps also has new “add stops” features to see top landmarks, attractions, scenic spots and dining options. The company also expanded Immersive View to more than 150 cities globally.
🤔 Apple Will Soon Let You Set Google Maps as Default App in the EU. “This means iPhone owners in the EU will be able to do something users have been requesting for years: set Google Maps as their default navigation app.”
👉 Grab Employees Required To Work 5 Days a Week in Office Starting in December. “The five-day return-to-office mandate starts in December, Grab told its staff, citing the need to facilitate more collaboration and interactions between employees.”
📲 Waze Is Getting a Huge AI Upgrade That Fixes One of Its Most Dangerously Distracting Features. “It essentially upgrades the existing voice controls for incident reporting by integrating Google Gemini and letting you do it more naturally than you could before.”
🤔 Google Maps Gets More Waze Features, Is "The Plan" Back on the Table?
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Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
💰 Waymo's Latest Funding Round Boosts It to a $45 Billion Valuation.
💲 DeepRoute Raises $100 Million in Push To Beat Tesla's FSD in China. “DeepRoute did not publicly disclose the name of its automaker backer, but reports in the Chinese media, including a press release, point to Great Wall Motor.”
🤞 Mitsubishi, Nissan to Establish JV on Autonomous Driving, EV Batteries, Yomiuri says. “Japan's Mitsubishi and Nissan have decided to establish a joint venture to provide services related to autonomous driving and using electric vehicle batteries as storage batteries, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Monday. The new company will be launched by March 2025 and equally owned by the two firms, Yomiuri reported.”
😮 Zoox Co-Founder on Tesla Self-Driving: 'They Don't Have Technology That Works.' “Zoox co-founder and CTO Jesse Levinson doesn’t believe Tesla TSLA 0.00%↑ will launch a robotaxi ride-hailing service in California (or anywhere else) next year despite what Elon Musk recently claimed.”
🛺 Is Amazon's Robotaxi Company Trying To Sidestep Federal Safety Laws? “Zoox has not requested an exemption to safety rules requiring vehicles to have traditional controls like steering wheels and pedals.”
🚘 Ford Unleashes Game-Changing Update to Autonomous Driving System. “The update allows drivers to maintain their speed by automatically changing lanes to pass slower traffic on highways. Although multiple Ford F 0.00%↑ vehicles offer BlueCruise, this newest update will be limited to the newest 2025 Mach-E for now.”
🚌 T-Mobile Deploys Private 5G for Jacksonville Shuttle Service. “Mobile operator T-Mobile TMUS 0.00%↑ has deployed a private 5G network in the city of Jacksonville, Florida, to connect a fleet of autonomous vehicles along the city’s waterfront and urban center.”
😐 Chinese Self-Driving Truck Start-up Autra.tech Scales Down Operations Amid Cash Crunch. “Financing issues and potential U.S. sanctions prompt Autra.tech to cut salaries of staff, cancel new development and suspend delivery orders.”
😉 Forget Tesla, Here’s What’s Real In Moving People Driverlessly. “While Tesla TSLA 0.00%↑ is making dubious assertions about a profitable robotaxi operation run by ‘shepherds’ who own an handful of CyberCabs, May Mobility is much further down this road.”
🤷♂️ Tesla's Project Rodeo Uses High-Risk Autonomous Vehicle Testing.
Fleet:
😦 Telematics Giant Microlise Suffers Cyber Attack. “Microlise has suffered a cyber attack, with a large proportion of the company’s services affected, leaving fleets without some tracking services.”
🚚 Pendragon Vehicle Management, Targa Telematics Partner on Fleet Solutions. “The partnership links Targa’s expertise in developing solutions and digital platforms for connected mobility and one of the UK’s top 15 leasing companies and part of one of the country’s leading motor groups, Lithia UK.”
🚛 Evolectric, Geotab Partner To Optimize Electrified Fleet Management. “Evolectric has entered a partnership with Geotab to combine Evolectric’s software and predictive analytics with a decentralized installation process and leverage Geotab’s data insights.”
🏅 PTV Logistics Wins Eco Performance Award for PTV EV Truck Route Planner.
📌 Webfleet Partners With Schmitz Cargobull for Integrated Trailer Telematics Solution. “This collaboration enables commercial fleet operators to connect Schmitz Cargobull trailers to the Webfleet platform via factory-fitted telematics, thereby eliminating the need for aftermarket hardware installations, the company said.”
Financial:
👍 Trimble Raises Annual Forecast Again After Q3 Beat. “Trimble TRMB 0.00%↑ raised its full-year earnings forecast for the second time this year, after higher revenue from its subscriptions and software services helped the GPS navigation maker beat estimates for the third quarter. Shares of the company were up nearly 9 percent in premarket trading on Wednesday.” In a press release, Rob Painter, Trimble's president and CEO said: "We continue to progress our Connect & Scale strategy with the recently announced Mobility divestiture, which will further simplify and focus our business. We look forward to hosting our Dimensions user conference from Nov. 11-13, 2024 and our investor day on Dec. 10, 2024."
💲 Qualcomm Beats Q3 Sales Targets, Stock Soars.
✔ Globalstar Announces Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results.
✔ Comtech CEO Points to Record Backlog After ‘Below Expectations’ Q4. “[John] Ratigan also addressed Comtech’s CMT 0.00%↑ plan to sell off its 911 business to create a pure-play satellite technology company, saying it is the best way to “unlock the value of this business while simplifying our capital structure.” Discussions for the sale are ongoing.”
✔ Garmin Announces Third Quarter 2024 Results.
😕 LKCO Stock Drops 7.10 Percent Amid Negative Earnings Report.
Location Industry Briefs
Send your news releases to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
TomTom and CARIAD to Power Navigation for Volkswagen Group
TomTom [TOM2] and CARIAD have announced that the first models from Volkswagen Group brands, which feature the companies’ co-developed next-generation navigation solution, are hitting the roads. Starting with Audi premium electric vehicles, the new navigation solution is integrated into the vehicle platform, providing operation across infotainment and the most advanced driver assistance systems, the company said.
CARIAD, the software company of Volkswagen Group, developed the navigation UI/UX and map visualization, the company said. TomTom’s cloud-native navigation software offers lane-level routing and real-time, lane dependent traffic information, the company said.
Contact: TomTom, mediarelations@tomtom.com, www.tomtom.com.
Swift Navigation Partners With Sony Semiconductor Solutions
Swift Navigation has announced a joint solution developed with Sony Semiconductor Solutions that integrates Swift’s Skylark Precise Positioning Service with Sony’s CXD5610 GNSS chipset. Markets for the chipset include logistics and supply chain, micromobility, asset tracking, wearables and others.
Swift’s Skylark corrects GNSS signal errors to deliver centimeter accuracy for autonomous vehicles, supply chain automation, and more, the company said. In more than 10 million ADAS-enabled and autonomous vehicles worldwide, Skylark is now available in three variants – Skylark Cx, Skylark Nx RTK and Skylark Dx.
Contact: Swift Navigation, www.swiftnav.com.
HERE Technologies Provides Navigation Solution for Kawasaki
HERE Technologies has been selected by Kawasaki Motors as the motorcycle manufacturer’s navigation solution provider for its smartphone mobile application, Rideology the App Motorcycle. The app connects motorcycles to riders' smartphones via Bluetooth.
Kawasaki has integrated the HERE SDK (Navigate Edition) into the app to provide turn-by-turn navigation displayed directly on a motorcycle’s meter cluster. HERE SDK also provides voice-guided instructions via a connected headset to provide hands-free convenience, the company said.
Contact: Camy Cheng, HERE Technologies, 65 9088 4127, camy.cheng@here.com.
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Airgain Launches AT-Flight Asset Tracker
Airgain AIRG 0.00%↑ has released the AT-Flight asset tracker for the healthcare and life sciences IoT markets. Designed for high-value, temperature-sensitive assets, the AT-Flight offers a solution for real-time tracking across ground and air transportation, the company said.
The AT-Flight combines artificial intelligence with ambient sensor technology to detect a flight event and activate airplane mode to comply with FAA regulations, the company said. Airgain’s family of asset trackers use a range of location services, including GPS and real-time cellular and Wi-Fi triangulation, the company said.
Contact: Martyn Gettings, Airgain, 44 7831158416, pr@airgain.com, www.airgain.com.
Zeta Surgical Launches Surgical Navigation System
Zeta Surgical has announced that its Zeta Navigation System has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use with expanded instruments and enhanced hospital connectivity. The Zeta Surgical platform provides navigation for the 19.6 million annual neurological interventions currently unsupported by existing navigation systems.
Its GPS-like guidance system uses mixed reality and advanced motion-aware remote sensing to enable real-time patient tracking, providing unprecedented access to navigation across a wide range of neurological interventions, the company said.
Contact: Zeta Surgical, media@zetasurgical.com, www.zetasurgical.com.
AirData Launches Asset Management Suite Designed for Drone Fleets
AirData UAV has launched an Enterprise Asset Management suite tailored for commercial drone fleets. This software release, available as an add-on to the AirData Enterprise subscription, provides a platform for end-to-end management of drone assets, the company said. When a pilot scans an item, its location and the pilot’s AirData account are logged in a historical ledger, the company said.
Contact: Trevor Hall, AirData UAV, (916) 260-5910, www.airdata.com.
People
Maxar Technologies has named Matt Santangelo as CFO and Matthew Jenkins as chief space systems officer. Their appointments follow the addition of Peter Wilczynski as chief product officer earlier this summer.
Transflo has appointed Chris MacDonald, formerly of ORBCOMM, as executive vice president of sales, telematics.
Phunware PHUN 0.00%↑ has appointed Rahul Mewawalla as chairman of its board.
Dan Colbert has started a new position as utilities, Americas sales manager at Trimble.
Konstantin Raychev has started a new position as product development team lead at Visteon.
Antonella Sgambati has been named LEO payload team leader at European Space Agency.
Jobs
Vice President of Product - Devices. Life360.
HR Business Partner. Waymo.
Sales Representative - Survey Technology. GeoSearch.
Solutions Engineer. Digital Matter.
Content Marketing Intern. Combain.
Sales Engineer. Sclera.
PNT Engineer. StarNav.
Automotive Telematics Test Engineer. GEMMACON North America.
Systems Engineer - Autonomy. Applied Intuition.
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