CACI Awarded $450 Million JNWC Contract
Ability to operate in PNT-denied or degraded areas growing
CACI International CACI 0.00%↑ was awarded a 10-year Joint Navigation Warfare Center (JNWC) contract worth as much as $450 million. CACI will provide JNWC operations support, joint and operational planning, adversary positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) capability and other services, the company said.
CACI said that PNT superiority is vital to U.S. national security and navigation warfare, or NAVWAR, which is the “deliberate defensive and offensive action to assure and prevent PNT use through space, cyber, and electronic warfare.”
The ability to thwart drone attacks—or enable them—is reaching critical mass. This week, Russia launched its largest drone attack against Ukraine in seven months. The Ukrainian Air Force said it shot down all 89 Shahed drones that came in a nighttime attack. Published reports indicate that GPS electronic jamming forces drones to fly at higher altitudes—making them better targets for aircraft.
"Adversary PNT capabilities rapidly evolve, putting our warfighters and national security operations at risk around the world,” said John Mengucci, CACI president and CEO, in a statement.
The U.S. Defense Department established the JNWC in 2004 ensure PNT superiority for agency and its interagency and coalition partners. The CACI contract, which represents new work for the company, features the insertion of subject matter mission experts, who will assist DoD’s 4-star combatant commanders to operate in PNT-disrupted, denied, and degraded areas, the company said.
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Google Announces New Updates for Maps and Waze
Google GOOG 0.00%↑ this week said that both Maps and Waze will have new features that will make it easier for drivers to report such incidents as nearby construction, lane closures, objects and police presence. The reports, which will come from the Maps and Waze communities, will allow drivers to see where the report originated, according to a company blog.
Google has made reporting icons larger so that drivers can quickly share updates. In addition, other drivers can confirm an incident with a tap, the company said. The new feature will be rolled out globally on both Android and iOS—and cars with Android Auto and Apple Car Play.
Another feature will allow Maps users to have destination guidance that automatically lights up a building and its entrance as a driver approaches it—and showing nearby parking lots. Waze will allow its users to see new speed camera types, provided by community members and publicly available data from local authorities.
One new feature that is missing, which one reporter felt should have been added, was the ability to pause directions during stops for food or fuel. Right now, that ability is not there.
Other features include:
Waze users will have turn-by-turn directions, traffic updates and hazard alerts while their phones are locked.
A new traffic events feature (parades, concerts and sporting events, etc.) that notifies Waze users once an event has started to avoid congestion.
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u-blox joins NVIDIA Jetson Partner Ecosystem
Strengthening its efforts to offer positioning in industrial and automotive markets, u-blox this week announced that it has joined the NVIDIA Jetson Partner Ecosystem, which offers AI for autonomous machines and other industrial applications. As part of the ecosystem, the company says it will continue its contribution to the NVIDIA Jetson and NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion platforms.
For the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin Developer Kit, u-blox will offer its ZED-F9K dead reckoning GNSS modue with integrated IMU sensors and support for the company’s PointPerfect GNSS correction service. Being integrated into the kit allows u-blox to connect with a development community of autonomous driving applications, the company said.
“Our work with NVIDIA NVDA 0.00%↑ will help make it simpler for engineers to develop autonomous vehicles and mobile robots based on u-blox high-precision positioning solutions,” says u-blox CEO Stephan Zizala, in a statement.
The DRIVE AGX Orin Developer Kit offers autonomous vehicle developers hardware, software and sample applications. NVIDIA, which has offered autonomous vehicle developer kits for about six years, partnered in March with OxTS for GNSS-aided inertial navigation systems for the autonomous vehicle development platform.
Other Location News
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Top News:
💰 United Launch Alliance and SpaceX Get $1.8 Billion Boost in Space Force Contracts. Part of these contracts include 10 GPS launches.
✔ Uber and BYD Partner to Accelerate Global EV Transition. “Uber UBER 0.00%↑ and BYD announced a partnership designed to bring 100,000 new BYD electric vehicles onto the Uber platform across key global markets. The two companies will also collaborate on future BYD autonomous-capable vehicles to be deployed on the Uber platform.”
🏛 Kirkland & Ellis Team Secures $19.4 Million Award for Transportation Tech Company in Patent Infringement Case. “Jurors in San Diego decided Platform Science willfully infringed on a patent held by Omnitracs of Texas. The former president of Omnitracs founded Platform Science in 2015.”
📱 Qualcomm Bullish on Automotive, AI on Smartphones. “Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm QCOM 0.00%↑ president and CEO, said on the quarterly call with analysts that in automotive, Qualcomm is seeing ‘signs of the pipeline translating into revenue. … Just within the quarter, we have not only the launch of 10 new models with our technology, but also we actually have 10 new design wins.’”
📊 NextNav: Being Patient Here Will Be Worth It. “In April, NextNav NN 0.00%↑ filed a petition with the FCC asking to swap their existing owned spectrum for similar but contiguous spectrum. It is highly likely that NextNav's petition will be granted in one way or another in the not-too-distant future.”
Maps:
🤨 Is Google Trying to Kill Waze? “I know this is one of the oldest topics in the navigation space, but the latest Google Maps updates certainly make Waze feel redundant, not on a single platform but everywhere.”
👉 Why Apple Maps on the Web Is an Even Bigger Deal Than Apple Intelligence. “This is good news for the platform-agnostic public, who get more choice. But it’s a sickener for Google GOOG 0.00%↑, which until now has had the web-based map market pretty much to itself.”
📲 Top Navigation App Gets Massive Update As It Tries to Make Google Maps and Waze Obsolete. “Sygic is one such example, as the company announced a major update comprising three big changes. All are supposed to make its navigation software more advanced in the battle against Google Maps and Waze.”
😐 Fierce Battle: How This Navigation App Tries to Defeat King Google Maps. “HERE WeGo is an application whose feature lineup includes the essentials, starting with support for driving, walking, and public transportation. It includes parking information, turn-by-turn voice guidance, multiple stops, offline maps, and support for CarPlay and Android Auto.”
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Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
🌍 Ford BlueCruise Hands-Free Driving Technology Approved for Customers To Use Across the Highways of Europe. “Ford F 0.00%↑ BlueCruise is approved by the European Commission for owners to use in 15 European countries, with access to more than 133,000 kilometers of designated highways.”
💲 AEye Announces Common Stock Purchase Agreement With New Circle for up to $50 Million. “AEye LIDR 0.00%↑ ) has entered into a purchase agreement with New Circle Principal Investments to sell to New Circle up to $50 million of AEye’s common stock.”
🤞 Cruise Aims to Re-Launch Driverless Ride-Hailing This Year. “Cruise hopes to begin offering driverless rides this year, and to re-launch paid driverless rides in early 2025, according to people familiar with the matter in a report from Bloomberg.”
🚙 Zeekr and Mobileye to Accelerate Technology Collaboration in China. “Companies expand Mobileye SuperVision platform to future Zeekr models globally.”
📈 Chinese Robotaxi Operator WeRide Files for U.S. IPO. “Chinese media and others have reported that WeRide could raise up to $500 million through a Nasdaq IPO, with some seeing it as becoming the largest listing for a Chinese company in the U.S. since ride-hailing app Didi in 2021.”
🚗 Robotaxi From Waymo + Zeekr Makes It to San Francisco. “[Waymo] has relied on relatively old Chrysler Pacifica plugin hybrids and, more recently, Jaguar I-PACE electric SUVs. Until now. Oh, well, it still relies on those, but it’s starting to incorporate brand new Zeekr electric vans in San Francisco.”
🚘 Tesla and NVIDIA Set To Go Head-To-Head in High-End Autonomous Driving. “In L2 to L3 autonomy, NVIDIA held approximately 50 percent market share in 2023 for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)/Navigation on Autopilot (NOA) in China's passenger car market.”
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 Expands Partnership With NextBillion and Causeway
TomTom [TOM2] has expanded its partnership with NextBillion.ai, a location technology platform provider. TomTom is integrating its data and APIs for NextBillion.ai’s solutions that provide route optimization, scheduling, and dispatch to the logistics, field services, and broader mobility industries, the company said.
In other company news, TomTom extended its commercial deal with British construction company Causeway. The company will integrate its Live Traffic and Maps APIs into the Causeway one.network to provide customers information on roadworks, road closures, and traffic disruptions, the company said.
ITSA Releases Framework for Successful AV Deployment
ITS America recently released the Public-Private Framework for Successful AV Deployment. The resource discusses how public-private collaborations can “maximize the benefits of automated vehicle (AV) deployment while reducing risks and improving the likelihood that the technology serves the needs of communities.” ITS America said that the framework provides an overview of considerations related to establishing public-private collaboration, defining AV deployment success, planning and implementation from concept to deployment, conducting effective outreach and engagement, and reviewing lessons learned.
Contact: ITS America, www.itsa.org.
Suntech International Launches ST4915 GPS Tracking Device
Suntech International USA has introduced its ST4915 battery-operated GPS tracking device for IoT applications in vehicle/fleet management and asset/trailer tracking. Key features include a Bluetooth Gateway that is expandable with additional tags and sensors for monitoring and management.
Other features include multiple location technologies including GPS, Wi-Fi geolocation and cell ID for tracking. The unit also has a motion sensor for shock and collision detection.
Contact: Tim Newberg, Suntech International, tnewberg@suntechus.com, www.suntechus.com.
CesiumAstro Grabs NASA Navigation Tech Contract
CesiumAstro has been awarded a contract from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to develop navigation technology for future lunar missions. CesiumAstro will deliver advanced radio units compatible with NASA’s LunaNet Augmented Forward Signal (AFS) standard to support ground testing of future surface navigation networks, the company said.
Some of the contract’s provisions include developing hardware capable of transmitting and receiving LunaNet AFS, implementing navigation signal generation based on GPS standards and enabling
high-precision phase measurements for lunar ranging applications, the company said. CesiumAstro expects to deliver the radio units within a year.
Contact: Aimée Ahiers, media@cesiumastro.com, www.cesiumastro.com.
Topocart Maps Brazil’s Cities Using Teledyne Galaxy PRIME+
Teledyne Geospatial recently sold its Teledyne Galaxy PRIME+ lidar system to Topocart, a Brazilian mapping company, to map large urban and rural areas. The Galaxy PRIME+ lidar system features the company’s SwathTRAK technology.
The technology allows for mapping in mountainous regions, at safe and stable altitudes, resulting in consistent coverage and minimal side lap, the company said. Compared to a fixed field-of-view lidar system, Galaxy reduces the amount of flight lines, cost and carbon footprint by less than 40 percent, the company said.
Contact: Jennifer Parham, Teledyne Geospatial, jennifer.parham@teledyne.com.
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ADASTEC Driverless Bus Used by National Park Service
ADASTEC has announced that its automated driving software platform has been integrated by Vicinity Motor Corp. for use in a National Parks Service (NPS) driverless bus that will ferry passengers at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan. The driverless bus will not only ferry passengers, but will serve as a research platform to test crash avoidance.
During the 45-day pilot program, the driverless bus will run along a 7.4-mile route, five days a week for eight hours per day, the company said. The initiative is part of an NPS Mobility Challenge Program that seeks to develop sustainable mobility solutions for national parks.
Contact: ADASTEC, www.adastec.com.
IdriveAI Launches NEXUS Fleet Management Platform
IdriveAI has launched its NEXUS video-based IoT platform that leverages AI-driven insights from both edge and cloud computer vision models and real-time data analytics. NEXUS features real-time video analytics, vehicle tracking, driver behavior monitoring, predictive risk alerts and customizable reporting. Nexus also features tracking that monitors vehicle locations and movements in real-time, the company said.
Contact: Andy Meyer, for IdriveAI, andym@msecmarketing.com, 44 (0) 1737 225 586, www.idrive.ai/fleet-management-platform.
Sentrycs Protects Latin American Port from Narco Smuggling
Sentrycs has been selected by a major maritime logistics and shipping company to protect ports in Latin America from drug cartels smuggling narcotics into shipping containers. The company said criminals were using small drones with and without GPS to perform surveillance flights and monitor the presence of security guards. Sentrycs site inspection detected 127 unauthorized drones in five days, the company said.
Contact: Audelia Boker, Sentrycs, audelia.boker@sentrycs.com, www.sentrycs.com.
People
Bosch Global Software Technologies has named Uday Prabhu as vice president, innovation and chief innovation officer.
Adam Haraz has been named director of business development and sales for Americas and Australian/New Zealand at TEKTELIC.
Shawn Curtis has been named chief of staff, finance and business operations at PTx Trimble.
Rob Tiffany has been appointed research director at IDC.
Phill Smith has been named CTO at Where You At.
Jobs
Project Management and Control Officer. EUSPA.
Marketing Associate. Cambridge Mobile Telematics.
Regional Sourcing Specialist, Geospatial Data. TomTom.
Sales Representative. TomTom.
Monitoring Technical Customer Support Professional. Trimble.
Technical Consultant. Sewio.
Sales Manager - IOT, RTLS. Pozyx.
Product Manager, EV Charging SaaS Product. Fuser.
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