FCC Ready to Ban U.S. Sales of New Huawei and ZTE Equipment
Could Chinese companies use location technology to spy on consumers?
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The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is prepared to ban the sale of new Huawei and ZTE equipment nationwide because of national security concerns. In particular, the Biden administration is concerned that U.S. cell towers, with Huawei’s equipment installed, could transmit sensitive information about military bases to China.
A Washington Post article said that Huawei, in China, actively participated in such surveillance activities as voice recording analysis, detention center monitoring, location tracking of political individuals of interest, police surveillance in the Xinjiang region and corporate tracking of employees and customers.
Huawei is no stranger to the location industry. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year, Huawei unveiled Petal Maps, a map navigation system that leverages mobile phone hardware and intelligent algorithms. The mapping capabilities include indoor and outdoor positioning, lane guidance, offline maps, 3D architecture, multi-terminal collaboration between smartphones and watches.
Huawei and ZTE are not the only Chinese companies under scrutiny for using location technology. As Location Business News reported in July, the Chinese-made MiCODUS MV720 GPS tracker has six severe vulnerabilities that could, if exploited, cut off a vehicle’s fuel, physically stop it, or surveil its movement.
A report by Boston-based cybersecurity firm BitSight says that there are 1.5 million MV720 trackers used in 169 countries. The tracker’s worldwide sales figures are staggering: 420,000 customers that include government, military, law enforcement agencies, and Fortune 1000 companies.
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Trimble Changes Headquarters from Sunnyvale to Westminster, Colorado
Trimble TRMB 0.00%↑ has announced that the company changed its headquarters from Sunnyvale, Calif., to Westminster, Colo. The company said that existing operations in Westminster constitute its largest employment center and serves as a central business hub for its agriculture, construction and geospatial market segments.
"Colorado has proven to be a strategic location in our U.S. operations since we opened our initial Westminster office in 2000," said Rob Painter, Trimble's president and CEO, in a statement. "The area attracts a desirable, diverse and growing pool of tech talent and provides an attractive quality of life for our employees."
Trimble's CEO, CFO and “a number of its senior business leaders” are already located in Westminster. This includes more than 1,000 Colorado-based employees.
It’s the end of an era as Trimble has been headquartered in the Silicon Valley since it was founded in 1978. The company said that Sunnyvale will continue to be a strategic hub and has been designated as the “Silicon Valley Center for Innovation and Operations. The Sunnyvale former headquarters will still have engineering, legal, operations and sustainability, corporate accounting and tax functions.
Painter said that the Silicon Valley talent pool is important for recruiting experienced high-tech employees.
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GPS Insight Acquires Certified Tracking Solutions
Private equity firm Hammond Kennedy Whitney (HKW) has sold Certified Tracking Solutions to Scottsdale, Ariz.-based GPS Insight. Edmonton, Canada-based Certified Tracking Solutions markets fleet management solutions under the Titan GPS brand.
GPS Insight, majority owned by private equity firm Accel-KKR, is focused on investing in software and technology-enabled services firms, the company said. For its part, HKW partnered with Certified Tracking Solutions in 2018, attracted to the company’s specialized municipal vehicle tracking software.
Earlier this year, Certified Tracking Solutions became the first company to obtain Canadian Electronic Logging Device (ELD) certification by CSA Group. The company also has a Scottsdale office.
Financial details were not disclosed. DC Advisory served as the financial advisor. Taft Stettinius & Hollister served as legal counsel to HKW.
Contact: Michelle Ball, HKW, (317) 705-8734, mab@hkwinc.com, www.hkwinc.com.
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Other Location News:
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Top News:
😣 Toyota Fears Information Leak From Its Telematics Service. “Toyota Motor Corp. [TOYOF] fears that about 296,000 pieces of customer information from its T-Connect service might have been leaked.”
🛰 Soyuz Launches GLONASS Navigation Satellite From Plesetsk.
🙁 That’s not what Reuters reported…
Maps:
🤨 Digital Maps Require Greater Government Oversight. “We rely more on mobile navigation apps than we realize. It’s a mistake to overlook them when regulating Big Tech.”
🚘 Florida Launches Lane Closure Notification System To Improve Worker Safety. “Near real-time alerts are sent to GPS companies which, in turn, can update drivers on any upcoming work zones or lane closures to smartphone apps like Waze. More apps are scheduled to be added during the pilot, including Google Maps, Apple Maps and TomTom.”
😉 Nice…
🤔 Google's Getting Rid of Its Standalone Driving Mode Dashboard. “Google’s GOOG 0.00%↑ shutting down Driving Mode, its standalone assistant-powered dashboard that offers quick access to audio controls, contacts, navigation and other shortcuts.
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
☹ Even After $100 Billion, Self-Driving Cars Are Going Nowhere. “They were supposed to be the future. But prominent detractors—including Anthony Levandowski, who pioneered the industry—are getting louder as the losses get bigger.”
😒 George Hotz: Self-Driving Cars Are A Scam. “It’s a scam. These companies have squandered tens of billions of dollars.”
🚓 Uber Is Back in the Robotaxi Game After Signing 10-Year Deal With Motional. “After a tumultuous period for Uber, the company is charging back into the autonomous vehicle space with a new deal with Hyundai and Aptiv’s joint venture Motional. It could be one of the largest deployments of AVs on a ride-hailing network in the world.”
🚍 Gatik and Loblaw Make History with First Fully Driverless Deployment in Canada. “Milestone signifies the first time nationwide that the safety driver has been removed from an autonomous commercial delivery route”
👍 NIO Working On Self-driving and Lidar Chips With Team Size of Nearly 300, Report Says. “NIO has assembled a chip team of nearly 300 people to develop both self-driving chips and lidar chips, according to a report by LatePost.”
Drones:
🛩 Russia's Artillery Is Faltering in Some Parts of Ukraine, and Moscow Is Using Iran's Drones To Fill the Gap. “Russian forces have begun using Iranian-made drones in attacks on Ukrainian forces.”
✔ Gather AI Secures New Cash To Scan Inventory in Warehouses Using Drones. “Gather AI, a startup using drones to inventory items in warehouses, today announced that it raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Tribeca Venture Partners.
Location Industry Briefs
Send your news releases to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Inpixon Sells Enterprise Apps Business
Inpixon INPX 0.00%↑ has sold its enterprise apps business to KINS Technology Group KINZW 0.00%↑. The group includes Inpixon’s workplace experience technologies, indoor mapping, events platform, augmented reality and related business solutions. The transaction will be structured as a business combination with Inpixon's newly formed subsidiary, CXApp Holding Corp. The company said the deal will result in Inpixon stockholders receiving shares in KINS valued at $69 million. The transaction is expected to provide Inpixon's enterprise apps business with greater capital and operational resources, a new executive management team and board expertise to accelerate growth, the company said.
Contact: Inpixon, marketing@inpixon.com, inpixon.com/contact-us.
Xona Awarded SBIR Phase II Funding for PNT
Xona Space Systems has been awarded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 funding to accelerate its efforts developing precise positioning and integrity monitoring techniques using its LEO PNT constellation. Xona, which was awarded $999,995, is one of only a few startups in the space industry to secure funding from the National Space Foundation, the company said. The project seeks to accurately map the Earth’s troposphere and ionosphere and demonstrate autonomous satellite integrity monitoring using a constellation of small satellites.
Contact: Bryan Chan, Xona, (314) 630-0191, bryan@zonaspace.com.
IndoorAtlas Indoor Positioning SDK Runs on Zebra Mobile Devices
IndoorAtlas has announced it has successfully completed Zebra Technologies’ Enterprise Testing Program for its Indoor Positioning Software Development Kit (SDK). IndoorAtlas’ Indoor Positioning SDK runs on designated Zebra mobile devices as a standalone component, the company said.
Benefits of the IndoorAtlas’ Positioning SDK include the delivery of accurate, cost-efficient indoor positioning for Zebra mobile devices across different network infrastructures, including WiFi access points and dedicated Bluetooth Low Technology (BLE) devices, the company said. Target markets include warehouse operators and retailers.
Contact: Erik Piehl, Indoor Atlas, erik.piehl@indooratlas.com, 358407678964, www.indooratlas.com.
Aeris Powers E-Bikes in Africa
Aeris has announced that Africa mobility solutions provider M Auto is using the company’s Intelligent IoT connectivity to enable sustainable transportation across the continent. M Auto, the largest electric vehicle start-up in Africa, has 2,000 e-bikes on the ground and 3,000 bikes ready for market, the company said. Since partnering in 2022, Aeris has helped M Auto through the initial launch of their EV products and services and enabled them to gain the ‘first mover advantage’ by shortening M Auto’s time-to-market, the company said.
Contact: Dawn Marks, Aeris, (847) 224-8665, dawn.marks@aeris.net.
Fixposition Selects u-blox GNSS Receiver for Flagship Product
Thalwil, Switzerland-based u-blox [UBXN] has announced that Fixposition selected its ZED-F9P for its Vision-RTK2 flagship product. The real-time kinematic GNSS receivers integrate GNSS correction data for centimeter-level positioning accuracy, the company said.
Fixposition’s Vision-RTK2 solution has developed a deep sensor fusion engine that combines the visually sensed data with position data generated using the GNSS receiver, the company said.
Contact: Natacha Seitz, u-blox, 41764360788, natacha.seitz@u-blox.com, www.u-blox.com.
OriginGPS to Exhibit at GITEX Global 2022
OriginGPS, manufacturer of miniature GNSS modules and cellular IoT systems, will present its solutions, along with a number of prototypes addressing challenges and trends, at GITEX Global 2022 in Dubai. One product, the OriginIoT system, measures raw data in real-time and can be deployed in a range of tracking technologies, the company said.
Other products include a smart baseball (image above) that provides and transfers raw data to the cloud, where it is monitored and analyzed to rate baseball players’ performance.
Contact: Lisa Harel, OriginGPS, lisa.harel@origingps.com, www.origingps.com.
Driven Telematics and CMT Partner
Driven Telematics and Cambridge Mobile Telematics have partnered on an app to help families with teen drivers improve driving safety and save on auto insurance. The new free Driven app provides families with insights on their driving behaviors and gives them a driving score they can shop to insurers to keep rates low, the company said. The Driven app allows users to improve risk behaviors like acceleration, braking, speeding, cornering and distracted driving.
Contact: Matt Fiorentino, CMT, mfiorentino@cmtelematics.com.
General Dynamics Displays Location Products at AUSA
General Dynamics GD 0.00%↑ displayed autonomous vehicles, a GeoSuite solution and APNT solutions at this week’s Association of the U.S. Army's Annual Meeting & Exposition, in Washington, D.C. The GeoSuite solution uses a map-centric interface, including unique multimedia tools. The GPS Source Assured Position, Navigation and Timing features a Horizon Nuller antenna provide critical timing and position data solutions in GPS-denied and GPS-degraded environments.
Contact: Tom Crosson, General Dynamics, (202) 309-7583, tom.crosson@gd-ms.com, www.gd.com.
Parkopedia Partners With aiMotive
Indoor mapping provider Parkopedia has partnered with aiMotive to offer automakers autonomous parking solutions. The scalable parking navigation solution is able to provide navigation support for drivers for both indoor and outdoor parking facilities by using aiMotive’s perception technology, the company said.
The partnership also uses Parkopedia’s Indoor Mapping service that works underground and in multistoried buildings where line of sight of GPS satellites are blocked, the company said. The partnership will provide indoor turn-by-turn directions to selected parking locations, such as to a pre-booked parking space or to electric vehicle (EV) charging points.
Contact: Adam Calland, Parkopedia, 44(0)7838219129, adam.calland@parkopedia.com, business.parkopedia.com.
Sonitor Displays RTLS and IPS Technology
RTLS and indoor positioning systems provider Sonitor will display the clinical benefits of its technology next week at Oracle Cerner Healthcare Conference in Kansas City. With ZulaFly, Sonitor will demonstrate its enterprise-scalable platform. Sonitor also offers its Sense RTLS platform.
Contact: Michelle Harmon, Sonitor Technologies, (203) 989-0999,
Michelle.harmon@sonitor.com, www.sonitor.com.
Zonar Rolls Out Latest ZTrak Version
Zonar has announced its latest iteration of ZTrak, a ruggedized asset tracker designed for connectivity in harsh environments. The unit integrates with the Zonar Ground Traffic Control fleet management platform to provide full location path through a single pane of glass, the company said.
Contact: Larry Meyers, Zonar, (310) 721-9587, ZonarPR@rhstrategic.com, www.zonarsystems.
Mapbox Grabs Nav Tech Award
Mapbox has been awarded 'Navigation Technology Solution of the Year' by the AutoTech Breakthrough Awards. This year, the awards program evaluated over 1,500 nominations and recognized the world's most innovative technology companies, the company said.
Mapbox was recognized for its Mapbox EV Routing solution, a platform service that enables automakers and navigation app developers to develop systems that account for charging locations, charging times, changing traffic conditions, vehicle performance and factors that influence energy consumption, the company said.
Contact: Mapbox, www.mapbox.com.
Cerebrum and Roadside Telematics Partner
CerebrumX Lab has partnered with Roadside Telematics Corp. to deliver next-generation 9-1-1 emergency response insights that will enable mobility partners like commercial fleets to improve driver safety post-crash survivability, the company said. The partnership will enable RTC’s RoadMedic to upgrade post-crash crash assistance and emergency services powered by leveraging CEREBRUMX AI traffic data, real-time crash data and comprehensive insights, the company said.
Contract: Shane Smith, for Roadside Telematics, pr@roadmedic.com.
People
Augsberg, Germany-based Quantron AG has named Richard Haas as CEO of its new U.S. entity, Quantron US. Raymond Staples was also named as chairman of the board and co-founder of Quantron US.
Haas was president and CEO of automotive start-up Mahindra Automotive North America, launching a new assembly plant in the Detroit area.
Hexagon AB has announced that David Mills will succeed Robert Belkic as company CFO, effective 1 July 2023. Mills is currently CFO of Hexagon's Manufacturing Intelligence division.
Jobs
Multiple Positions. Syntony GNSS.
Geospatial Commercial Support. TCarta.
GNSS Markets Analyst. Joint Program Office.
